We all had to live through the COVID-19 pandemic, and we struggled every step of the way. Regardless of our feelings on specifics, such as vaccinations or the lockdown, we still had to deal with the devastating results that the worldwide pandemic brought to all of us.

Many studies have been done on the effects of the pandemic and how people were able to handle it. Some of these involve the ability for people to work from home as never before or how living in a romantic relationship during the pandemic may have been difficult.

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There is no doubt that we have experienced a lot of changes over the past few years. These changes are seen in the way we live, the way we work, and the way we love.

There is also an interesting 2021 survey from the Survey Center of American Life. It has to do with friendships among those living in the United States, and this time, it wanted to look at how COVID-19 affected those friendships.

The American Perspective Survey from May 2021 is a peek into life during the 20th century. It compared some similar questions they asked in 1990 to show how Americans have changed over the past few decades.

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One of the ways the people have changed is that they don't have as many close friendships as they did. They don't rely on their friends as often for emotional support, and they don't talk to them as much as they used to.

Almost half of those who participated in the survey said that the pandemic affected their friendships profoundly. They said that at some point between May 2020 and May 2021, they lost contact with some of their friends.

The highest percentage was young women between the ages of 18 and 29. 15% of the young women in that group reported that they lost touch with a few friends. Almost half, however, also said they made new friends during the same time period.

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Obviously, the pandemic has had a profound effect on people and their relationships. When you compare the numbers of now with what was reported in 1990, it really tells a tale.

1990: 33% of those who reported said they had a minimum of ten close friends. 27% of the participants said they had three friends or fewer.

2021: 13% of those who reported said they had at least ten close friends. And 37% had three or fewer friends.

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One of the more devastating revelations from the survey is that 12% said they had no close friends. That was a 9% increase compared to the 1990 survey. At the same time, most Americans said they had a best friend.

One of the reasons for the shift could be that participants are saying they have several different types of friends in the mix. Some have friends in specific places, such as at school or the gym. Others have had friends since childhood, and 51% said that their friends are based on activities.

After the survey was released, many people went online to talk about their friends and how they maintained friendships during the pandemic.

In the end, this survey doesn't change the way that we make friends. It just provides us with a look at how America is doing behind the scenes. Undoubtedly, the pandemic has had an impact on our lives and the lives of many others. It will be interesting to see where we go from here.