Someone Asked “What Ended Your Friendship With Your Best Friend?” And 30 People Got Honest

We managed to get in touch with gli-tc-h and the Redditor agreed to have a little chat with us.

"[At the time of making this post], I had just ended one of the longest friendships I've ever had," they told Bored Panda. "I wouldn't call him a best friend but whatever."

"I didn't really expect for [the post] to gain so much traction but soon after, I realized that it is quite a popular topic, there were recurring themes such as just drifting apart due to moving, family matters, and some to do with taking spouses. There were a few stating that the friendship ended when it became more intimate."

According to a study by scientists from Aalto University in Finland and the University of Oxford in England, our social circle shrinks soon after our mid-20s.

The teams analyzed data from 3 million mobile phone users to identify the frequency and patterns of whom they contacted and when, as well as overall activity within their networks.

Men and women were socially promiscuous – making more and more friends and social contacts – until the age of 25, after which point they started losing them rapidly, with women losing them at an initially faster rate than men.

The average 25-year-old woman contacts about 17.5 people per month, while a man contacts 19.

(This decline continues for the rest of our life, or at least until retirement, where it plateaus, probably due to reduced data among this age group.)

Scientists theorize that around this age, people begin to decide who is most important – and valuable – in their life and make a greater effort to hold on to those friends. This, as a result, hurts other relationships.

“Once you’ve made decisions and found the appropriate people, you can be much less socially promiscuous and invest your time in these people,” said Robin Dunbar, a professor of evolutionary psychology at the University of Oxford who co-authored the paper.

“But they can’t be just anybody,” he added.

Narrowing down the people you're close to includes friendships as well as life partners, particularly for women, due to the support and help they can provide in times of need.

Personally, gli-tc-h thinks that it's "possible to keep a friend for most if not your entire life without falling out, but it all depends on if you have the same interests and ... [whether or not] your personalities clash. There are a whole bunch of cases where friendships last a lifetime."

And the secret is, you guessed it, talking. "A million factors go into a lifelong friendship and no two friendships are alike, but there is one key thing that all ride-or-die friendships have in common – crystal clear communication," Lori Harder, author of A Tribe Called Bliss: Break Through Superficial Friendships, Create Real Connections, Reach Your Highest Potential and host of the Earn Your Happy podcast said.

You and your BFF won't be the same people as years go by. So you won't have a successful relationship without speaking up about your ever-changing needs, desires, and expectations.