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

Mind

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

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.

“People aren’t averse to the idea of reconnection, they’re just worried about the risk of doing it,” says Lara Aknin at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, Canada. “They don’t want to be the one who sticks their neck out to initiate…

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