We’re thrilled to see Friendship Lab featured in The Straits Times, Singapore’s leading national newspaper. In <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/why-arent-we-talking-more-about-friendship">this insightful article on adult friendship</a> (paywalled, or alternative link <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.pressreader.com/singapore/the-straits-times/20251228/281818585189462">here</a>), columnist Leslie Koh writes that loneliness is growing in Singapore, and quotes our founder Sheridan Voysey at length on the way forward:<hr>“A 2015 Duke-NUS Med­ical School study found that 39 per cent of Singa­por­eans aged 62 years and older have repor­ted feel­ing lonely, while the 2024 IPS study showed that those between the ages of 21 and 34 face the highest levels of loneli­ness and social isol­a­tion. “Yet, as friend­ship expert Sheridan Voy­sey – another con­tact-turned-per­sonal friend – notes, not enough focus has been given to an obvi­ous solu­tion. ‘Every­one’s talk­ing about loneli­ness, but no one’s talk­ing about friend­ship,’ he recently told me. “‘When we inten­tion­ally learn how to find like-minded people, make con­fid­ent invit­a­tions, take con­ver­sa­tions deeper, and develop mutu­al­ity, we not only decrease our loneli­ness and increase our well-being, we help oth­ers do the same.’“It was this dis­may over the friend­ship reces­sion that promp­ted the Eng­land-based Aus­tralian writer and radio host to set up Friend­ship Lab, a non-profit organ­isa­tion, to teach people how to make friends. The start­ing point, he says, is under­stand­ing what a friend is: ‘We define a friend as someone I can talk to, depend on, grow with, and enjoy. With that in place, we can learn how to become a good friend.’“At a recent <a target="" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.friendshiplab.org/blog/2am-friend-tedx-talk/">TEDx Talk</a> on start­ing what he called a ‘friend­ship revolu­tion’, he explained why we may need to learn more about the philo­sophies and prac­tical approaches of mak­ing friends. ‘Friend­ship is a voca­tion,’ he said. ‘Just as we read books to become bet­ter par­ents, treat­ing friend­ship as a voca­tion means get­ting skilled.’”<hr>Read the full article <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.pressreader.com/singapore/the-straits-times/20251228/281818585189462">here</a>.

How much does it cost if we treat friends as an investment in an age of growing loneliness? Perhaps as little as 10 minutes of our time.

Why aren’t we talking more about friendship?

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Why aren’t we talking more about friendship?

Why aren’t we talking more about friendship?

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