This week, we launched a project we've been working on for months: a brand-new Vox section called Even Better, chock full of stories teaching readers how to live a better life. The first batch covers a wide array of topics, from answering the question of how an individual can approach the problem of climate change to navigating the emotional side of money. Like all of the pieces we'll be running in the weeks and months to come, these are deeply reported, expertly sourced, and (we'd like to think) strike a balance between accepting that everyone's deal is totally different while providing concrete, useful advice and frameworks for thinking.

As a place to start, I highly recommend senior reporter Allie Volpe's article making the case for having fewer — but stronger — friendships; I personally have had trouble in this phase of the pandemic figuring out how to spend my time and energy, and with whom, and found it extremely reassuring to learn that I'm not a totally hopeless hermit if I choose to invest myself with a couple of close friends rather than spreading myself too thin. It's a tough world out there right now, and we'd like to ease the burden of charting a path through it alone. And if you have questions you'd like us to answer, or topics you think we should be covering, drop us a line over at this Google form.

—Alanna Okun, senior editor

The case for fewer friends

Shanée Benjamin for Vox

After two years of pandemic life, you could find yourself at a fork in the friendship road, choosing between a whittled-down social circle and becoming overextended trying to make up for lost time with everyone on the outer reaches of your network. Amid an ongoing loneliness epidemic, people may feel renewed in their efforts to revive their networks due to the anxiety-inducing realization that their friend group has shrunk to an all-time minimum. Realizing the potential of fostering just a few intimate relationships, however, can be empowering.

Having lots of friends does have benefits: Acquiring a large quantity of friends in your 20s can help inform the quality of friendships you'll have in your 30s, according to research. "People in their 20s tend to want to build a big roster of friends, because their motive is to expand their sense of identity, and you can do that through different types of people," says psychologist and friendship expert Marisa Franco, author of the upcoming book Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make — and Keep — Friends. People who regularly interacted with 10 or more friends in midlife have higher levels of psychological well-being than those who had fewer than 10, according to a 2012 study. We also know that maintaining friendships leads to positive life satisfaction, minimizes stress, and even contributes to better physical health outcomes.

But you don't need a roster dozens deep to enjoy the fruits of friendship. Franco says even having one friend is a net positive. "The biggest return we get in friendship is going from zero to one friend in terms of its impact on our mental health and well-being," Franco says. "If you can get that deep with one person, it's going to be powerful and it's going to be impactful, and you don't need to have a ton of friends."

Read the full story »