In my years as a high school student I have had groups of friends that ranged from two people to 16 people. Every time I look back, I would always choose to just have the two friends by my side.
It's great to have many friends. You have a good support group, different perspectives, and different people altogether. You always have someone you can spend time with, and if you have a group chat, it's never dead.
But you can also have too much unnecessary drama. People in the group will date each other. They'll exclude others in the group. Someone will always get upset by something another person said. Drama isn't an "if," it's a "when."
In the times where I did have a big group of friends, I felt like I didn't really know anybody. I barely knew the life story of my closer friends in the group, let alone the people who were relatively new. It was difficult to get to know someone, and if you did end up getting to know someone, someone else would think you two didn't like them, or that they were being excluded.
Of course, I know that not all groups of friends are like that. Adult life is very different than high school life. From my own experiences, I can say that it is sometimes better to only have two or three close friends than a large group of people you don't really know.
The friends who grew close to me over the years stuck with me through all the drama, and were actually good friends. The rest either created drama or added fuel to the fire. It wasn't fun being around them and any conversation didn't feel like they could be serious or be there for me in difficult times.
I quickly learned who I wanted to be friends with, and the type of people I wanted in my life. They were people I cared about. They were people who shared interests and ideologies with me. They could hold meaningful conversations. They were people who could have disagreements with me but still be my friend at the end of the day.
I also passed through many small groups of friends. I had my close friends freshman year, and by senior year, some of us weren't on speaking terms.
But again, this is from my own perspective. Some people are capable of having many friends and still hold meaningful conversations and be supportive. Some people love having many friends, and kudos to them.
I decided I no longer wanted to waste my time on trivial drama and the insanity that is high school.
I had more important things to focus on.
Like my education.
Like exploring the outdoors.
Like my family.
I don't need a lot of friends, I just need a few great ones.
