Individual friendships' gravitational pull may have a huge cumulative influence on the quality of our lives. With a rising number of individuals living alone, either by choice or by necessity, friendships can replace the emotional space that others fill with spouses or significant others. When we lack friends, we tend to turn to family for support, which is understandable since they are usually there for us. However, even family members cannot fully understand what it means to be isolated from other people, so they too often push us away rather than supporting us through our problems. It is not that we want to be aloof; we are just trying to cope with the absence of positive relationships. It is difficult to feel happy and content when we don't have anyone to rely on, so it makes sense that having more friends would improve how we feel about our lives. However, research shows that individual friendships do have profound effects on our lives. Studies have shown that people who have more friends live longer and report higher levels of happiness. This makes sense since close friendships provide an essential counterweight to the difficulties of life and help us cope with the losses we all experience. Furthermore, scientists speculate that these positive effects are due to friends providing us with social support, meaning that they help us deal with the challenges of living in a socially anxious world.