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How to reconnect with long-lost friends, according to science

We are generally as reluctant to contact a long-lost friend as we are to talk to a stranger, but scientists have come up with an approach so it's easier to make the first move

By Christa Lesté-Lasserre

9 May 2024

Contacting someone you haven’t spoken to in a while can be daunting
ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP via Getty Images

We often fear that long-lost friends wouldn’t want to hear from us or that reaching out would be awkward. Now, scientists have come up with an approach to ease our anxieties around making contact.

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The hidden rules that determine which friendships matter to us

“People aren’t averse to the idea of reconnection, they’re just worried about the risk of doing it,” says at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, Canada. “They don’t want to be the…

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