What The Research Says
- Having a broad social networking, consisting of many strong and weak ties (close friends and acquaintances) has been correlated to increased wages and higher levels of employment.
- Weak ties are people you might not see more than a few times a year, and are specifically correlated to reduced unemployment and higher wages. The wage effect has been disputed.
- Having more, strong (positive) social connections has been strongly linked with improved subjective well being and reduced symptoms of depression.
- Social connections and participation in a community (religious or non-religious) are two of the most reliable predictors of subjective well being.
- In general, increases in social trust and trust of institutions is correlated with higher subjective well being.
- Broadly increased number and quality of social connections is correlated with decreased mortality from all causes, for these relationships to be maximally beneficial, they have to be positive.
References
- Well Being Evidence for Policy (NEF)
- Social Networks and Labor-Market Outcomes: Toward an Economic Analysis (The American Economic Review)
- Labor Market Implications of Weak Ties (Fordham University)
- Social Connections and Mortality From All Causes and Cardiovascular Disease: Prospective Evidence from Eastern Finland (John Hopkins)
- Recipe for Longevity: No Smoking, Lots of Friends (Time)
The Choices
Broad – There was this one time you met someone you didn’t know, it was kind of weird…
Score: +1 Wealth, +1 Happiness, +1 Health
Narrow – Your friends know you well, your family knows you better, and everyone else knows you as, “that guy.”
Score: +1 Happiness
Isolated – All of last year your family and friends were convinced that you had been kidnapped by a cult, this is likely because that is what the ransom note you sent them to get them off your back said.
Score: -1 Happiness, -1 Health, +1 Risk