How friendship affects your brain - Shannon Odell 

Having friends is important, but having REAL, GOOD friends is priceless. Trust me, finding people that deserve your kindness and time is hard but worth it!

Genuine friendships can literally save lives and im thankful for mine

TED is a friend too, speaks about all kinds of stuff from summoning earthworms to gossiping about Zeus's relationships ,rate of gold to how jaguars was the unlucky charm in aztec mythology , this is one friendship I sure won't regret in life .

My sympathy toward all the teens who spent their adolescence friendless and getting bullied... only few would understand what you missed out

Honestly I have more genuine friendships now nearing my 30's than I did when I was jus reaching my 20's. To anyone seeing this video remember that your own life experience can be different than the norm and is never too late to make meaningful connections with others.

Hey kids, keep holding on a bit. In teen, I almost had no genuine friends, didn't have much family either. But I grew up and learned to place value on myself and understand what I value on others. Life was not always fair, but now i have the handful of people I can call friend, and they truly care. Some of them are remains of relationships I had in teenage. they weren't friend then. life can be full of unexpected things. So take care of yourself, bad things happens, but good things happens as well. Remember that, okay? (I wrote this as a reply to a comment, but I think some of us needs to hear these kind of thing time to time. So here it's again.)

it really hurt hearing this as a 15 year old that has never had a genuine friend since the age of 6. I really want a good friend. I always listen when other people talk and I’m genuinely interested and I try to understand them, but I feel like i’ve never met anyone that cares so much the way I do. People I’m around don’t care what I have to say. Edit: thank you for everyone that responded, it makes me feel less alone :) I didn’t think anyone would see this so I just typed this in a very depressed mood. But I’m mostly fine, just the friends part of my life is a bit off. I’m planning on participating in activities and clubs in my school so i can meet more people, I’m not hopeless, just a bit tired. I really like being by myself but it’s hard if you don’t have any friends. And I will not change for anyone when looking for friends, and neither should you. I know that ,,my time hasn’t come yet“ and I know I should be patient but oh does it hurt seeing people my age live their teenage lives ,,to the fullest“. Okay, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone and let people that read this know and relate that yes, we will not be able to tell cool stories about our teenage years to our grandchildren. But we can work on ourselves. Adapt new hobbies. Try to respect ourselves. Maybe none of that will resolve the loneliness, but you’re gonna feel better and will get out of bed. Just wanted to end this on a more positive note. Take care of yourself.

I got no friends so can't relate

I would ask that they make a follow up to this video regarding what we should do if we did not have a close friend in our childhood or adolescence, whether it be due to bullying, extreme introversion or the inability to feel lonely, a faulty Theory of Mind (found in people with autism), or just plain bad luck.

I went through multiple fake friendships that ended. One ended really badly. Watching the people around me negatively change saddened me, and eventually they became people I no longer knew.

Finding a true friend can be hard. But keeping them once you've got them is incredibly difficult. True friendship requires many things to keep it alive including loyalty. Though its always being tested it is worth its weight in gold.

i've always struggles to make friends and i've always felt the need to take on the other persons personality so they'll like me better. funny how brains work.

I never really had a true friendship until college. The friendships I had in my childhood and teen life apparently I was the only one who thought they were true. When I went to university I had new friends and we didn't really understand each other at first but as years passed we grew to understand each other and became good friends whom I really treasure now.

It's difficult to find true friends but when you find they'll always have your back. I am still searching for a friend. 😄😄🥰

I feel like most of my friendships die out because I don't put enough effort into them, but I'm afraid of being annoying or judged by my friends. I keep having these horrible intrusive thoughts about whether my friends truly care about me, and I can't seem to reach a clear answer. Putting all your trust into someone is like a gamble, they might seem like they'd value and reciprocate your love and trust but it doesn't always turn out that way, and that hurts.

My best friend's name is also Priya😭 i really struggled with the concept of friendship in my adolescence and early teenage years because i was always excluded by people i literally knew since kindergarten. But priya is my soulmate and I'm very grateful for her

During adolescence, our improving Theory of Mind allows us to expand our world in a way we couldn't before, to include another independent, conscious being. Ideally, our understanding continues to evolve through our entire life. Some people grow with us, but most friendships are for a season, and that's okay.

If you don't have a friend like that it must make you feel so lonely watching this video.I know I have. I suggest you make a video about learning to enjoy being alone,if you could that is,no pressure.

This video actually makes me sad, because I feel I missed out on something special in my teen years :(

I may have Asperger's Syndrome but luckily I am blessed with a group of high school friends who are like angels to me. Still are in contact with them until now! Sure, some of my close high school friends are currently overseas and some in my home country (Malaysia). At least I get to hang out with them when we have the chance 🎀❤

I love the friend you don't see for days, weeks, months but the bond still as strong as ever❣️

As someone who almost do not have any friends or even a real family to go to my entire life, it's difficult to come across topics like this and now I want to write/express the following and maybe someone in a similar situation can relate and feel less lonely, I'll write the following not for pity but for the other purpose I stated. You just have to pardon my grammar. Since the pandemic began I realize many things and faults in myself including my issues socializing. This has roots starting from the issues of my parents, then me not being able to really pick up/learn things while I was much young that lead me not being able to not allow myself to get bullied in school for years, plus the body dysmorphia that I'm feeling right now because sometimes you have things that you can't control plus some other factors but yeah at the same time I still have my own things that I can control. I'll try not to focus much on these and just express my sentiments about socializing because as you can see that I have a lot going in my mental health, things like trauma, emptiness, loneliness, fear, etc. So about socializing, it's hard for me. Me being misunderstood happens a lot and yeah I have my own faults too that hasn't much given chance to explain and ask for reconciliation. Not being able to have friends at a really young age kinda end something special because I can say that for my experience now that I'm 23 turning 24, it's a challenge to befriend someone who possibly has already people/friends of their own. Tho I can say that I became more socially withdrawn, I'm still longing for people who can understand me and share my interest, I'll return the good favor too. I know being a hikikomori doesn't help and I have to fix my other issues first and if that journey will continue maybe I'll find that person/them or that person/they will find me. I think one is enough for me but if it's multiple people and we're really going to be in the same page then I'll be grateful. Thinking about just one person makes me think that I need someone romantically but it depends and yeah finding love at my current situation is a mess tho I can't resist the idea sometimes, I've been lonely for so long. I maybe have I can call a couple of friends in the past and one of them I can call him my bestfriend but I think I loss him recently because of my mistake and a misunderstanding and instead of talking it out to him, I became afraid and not ready so I isolate myself and deletes my only social media that's my only way of contact to him. Besides of my faults I think he also doesn't understand me much despite us knowing each other for a long time. In recent times I want to talk to him about those things but me deleting my social media is the thing that happens. The other friend and others who came along in my life are more of a shallow aquintances or just classmates that's irrelevant now except maybe that one friend. In the past I wanted to befriend them all but I don't know how, now that maybe I know how they are now have different lives that I won't be able to enter. And me too has a different life now. Right now most of them can be said has a better life than mine because they already finish college and has jobs but I have a whole lot seperate sentiments about that. Maybe it's just like in the poem that the world will laugh with me if I'm laughing but if I'll weep, I'll weep alone. I'm keeping my door open to someone that will enter and end my loneliness but at the same time I now learned that I must be cautious and wander first for my own and maybe I can find something new along the way and also to maybe go back to things that I need to return to. But mostly about my past I need it to left behind me because most of them haunts me and it's real bad. I tried socializing online again on a different platform but the people there makes me more lonely again so now I'm trying to completely give up the idea and focus on something else meaningful. The good news is, I now think the answers are already inside of me and I just need to start executing things and stay with it, easier said than done but I'll remain to solving this puzzle. I wish we all find peace, happiness and whatever we're looking for.

Friends are the people who help make it bearable to be around other human beings.

Friendship is essential not only for us but also for other species. Our crew managed to get on camera an amazing relationship between a crocodile and a bird, in which both work together to help protect their eggs. In this case, of course, the brain works in a different way, but still highly beneficial for those involved.

"Good friends are like diamonds precious and rare, False friends are like autumn leaves lying everywhere"

I know this video was in no way negative but I do think it's important to mention that friendships can begin and flourish in all stages of life, including adulthood. Don't ever feel like you don't belong in this world just because you haven't met your circle of friends yet.

I've always been the friend to drop everything for others. I NEVER get the same in return. I'm 26 and sick of being ignored by "friends".

"A friend is someone who makes it easy to believe in yourself." "A good friend is like a four-leaf clover; hard to find and lucky to have." "The language of friendship is not words but meanings." "Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you; spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life."

This is a very detailed video as it also tackles the effects of friendship in our body physiologically. Having friendships has positive effects on our mental health and how we cope up with things. They are those people who we rely on. It reminds me of our people in reviving mind, as we always remind them that friendships are good and beneficial however, we must choose those real and good ones. We always remind them that in friendship it is always quality over quantity.

My teenage years weren’t filled with many close friends. I found myself struggling with my social skills mainly because of the fact that I was in a lot of physical pain from having a knee injury that lasted me 7 years. If I didn’t dislocate my left kneecap I would have probably been more social.

I pray that whatever is hurting you or whatever you are constantly stressing about gets better. May the dark thoughts, the overthinking, and the doubt exit your mind. May clarity replace confusion. May peace and calmness fill your life. 🙏🏼

Even though I haven't seen my bestie since 2017 cause we live in different countries, we are always a phone call away. We both know that just hearing each other out will significantly decrease our burden. I hope everyone can experience something like this if not better 💙

even though i am aware that focusing on oneself is important during adolescent years, i often feel like i am missing out on these moments described in the video because i lack close friendships. i hope i find someone like priya in the future when i grow up.

the fact that most of the channels are making videos about friends at the same time is helping me make friends

I don't have a social life and no friends and my heart started beating fast throughout the video out of anxiety that my adolescence is gonna be wasted soon for nothing

I always feel that Best friends are like Terms and conditions, You don’t wanna accept it but you still have to accept the terms.

It's fascinating to learn this science from perspective of someone who has lost all relations, that includes friendships, in adolescence.

True friends are precious. Treasure the ones you have.

I have 3 best friends since 2009 i met them at my first school and still they are being my friends.they are gems.

I literally just made a friend at work who draws similar stuff as me, who plays Terraria and other games, and loves a lot of pop culture stuff that I do. Maybe we are common types of people...but at least I don't feel alone right now. That's a plus.

I'm completely agree with these points.True friendship is crucial to our minds and lives.Thank you so much for this video which is effective to solidify our relationships! It means me so much

I received a notification about this video just when I am having issues with a friend right now 😟. I miss her so much but I think she got fed up of my attitude, she's cold to me and she constantly ignores me, unlike before. I kind of think that I deserve it because I don't give back the same efforts that she gives to me. I think right now, she found someone better than me. I'm hesitating to approach her or make the first move because it is hard to swallow my pride. But if she finds her peace without me, then I can dissapear in her life. We haven't officially ended our friendship, it's just me overthinking HAHA. Besides, I'm still at my teens and I'm hoping to meet a lot of new people along the way. However, I can never find someone like her. I love you and I miss you so much, Sophia.

No man is an island" That's why friendships are important. Thank you for this excellent presentation, even kids will enjoy this.

I've no friends since last 5 years.....No one wants to talk to me. Ive tried everything to change myself accordingly for people to like me and also tried while being my authentic self but nothing works. It might also be the reason behind my depression.

I value my friends as if they were family. Like I call them my best friend but I also see them as my Siblings/family. I care so much about them too, to the point where if I lost them, I would be devastated. I don't wanna loose my favorite people 😫. So yeah friendships are very important and can be life-saving graces sometimes. And to those that think they don't have any friends or that they have trouble making friends, I'm sure you will find somebody one day that you're close to. And to those kids who are bullied most of their life and end up going friendless, I swear it'll get better. You will find one person at some point or maybe multiple people that relate to you and you click with. So just hold out! The right person will come along!

I'm so grateful to God for the one friend I've got... She means the world to me!! 💜💜

Finding honest, helpful, and decent friends is really hard to achieve. When you manage to do that, you feel pure happiness.

I always talk about how I'm the luckiest person on earth with the kind of friends I always seem to have. It's like my superpower to be attracted to and to make friends with awesome people. I don't take this fortune for granted seeing how hard is it for others to have something even close sometimes.

I used to have a lot of friends and close friends. But when I was 22, I moved to a different country and wasn't able to maintain contact with all of them. Now 12 years later, I have no friends. I barely talk to my old friends anymore. It's also hard for me to make friends. I just don't have any interest or motivation to do so. I've become comfortable with my own company too much that I dread the thought of hanging out with someone else.

Well my teenage years are almost over, and sadly i haven't spent much time with my friends outside school because I'm not good at making deeper connections or maybe I haven't come across much better people but I've spent a lot of time with myself and my family so I don't regret it that much and I hope that I and everyone like me can have real and true and good friends 💝💖

I still feel deeply hurt since three years ago in relationships, not to mention trying to have a new one. However, it isn't the worst thing before having depression.

Priya and the speaker demonstrate an exceptional friendship that is unique due to their close bond and understanding of each other.

Now make a video on how no friendship affects the brain since i got no friends

This video absolutely shattered my heart. 💀 Love ted-ed though.

Last year my best friend backstabbed me at the beginning of our senior at Uni. It's been so hard dealing with the hurt she caused me. I know one day I'll get to a point where she is no longer a part of my thoughts.

I wonder what sort of factors affect this. Like where you live - I grew up in a small town so it was just obvious most of my friends would move somewhere else someday, but maybe if we were in a big city, we'd have felt less need to move on and kept all those connections we formed as teens.

The power of friendship is real!

I have fewer friends now than I did in my early 20s. I’ve focused on cultivating several deep friendships instead of many superficial-ish ones. I never felt happier or more secure in them. They laugh when I laugh and cry when I cry. It is truly a blessing. ❤

Friends make me an extrovert they give me confidence and motivation

Ted Ed: how friendship... Me: What do you mean by friendship

When it comes to love & friendship, spend more time appreciating what you have than you do longing for more

Make a video on exactly how to interact with people with the goal of gaining their friendship and trust.

Growing up I didn't have close friends like that. Because of that, if someone comes off as maybe wanting to have a friendship it feels foreign.

I always have those people I know and can talk to, but only few do I truly talk about life with.

Adolescence is my loneliest stage of life.

This new structure is really cool! Simulating a situation only makes these videos all the more educational

took me a long time of trial and error but I am so glad I learnt the value of quality over quantity when it comes to friends 😄

I was just day dreaming on the way home. When I just left alone in an event, realising that I am the only one with no friend circle... - my daydream was. "You're not alone, you're an observer. But when you get out there (move to college, out from pandemic isolation) I want to see what's beyond" Thinking "what's beyond", this might be the answer.

It's true. Friendship is all about sharing and caring.

Friendship is magic.

I do long for irreplaceable friends. It’s hard to connect to other teens due to my lack of phone use and infrequent, but passionate times I decide to communicate. It’s kinda like wanting the feeling that doesn’t exist to specifically myself. Seeing the lack of strong bonds, i have blamed many a personality flaw on myself. From described above, to the feelings of betrayal from my early childhood, to adhd turned to confirmed autism. Perhaps I can say that my patience has eroded, along with my mental health. Well, one day I will accept myself, even if my mind overloads multiple times.

I'm really glad that I have true friends and that too 3 of them. People might think that they aren't true but I have been friends with them since I was 4 and now I am 15. As we evolved our friendship evolved too. Earlier I never realized that they were soo important but now as a teen, I understand that without them I'd probably be very lonely. It's like they told in the video, we complete each other's sentences, even in text, and have soo many funny inside jokes that usually make no sense from a third-person view. We even understand each other and we can't keep a grudge longer than a day (it used to be 2 months earlier)

Me watching this with no friends 👁👄👁

I feel sorry for whoever never got the chance to be loved and cared by a true friend I'm praying that things will get better for you all, I'm sort of a lone wolf myself and never really had friends, specifically I've never had a best friend in my life, but this changed around 2-1.5 years ago,My best friend also was relatively lonely like me but we now stand for eachother and I'm so thankful for that it truly means a lot to me,on valentine's day four days from now will be her birthday and I'm preparing something to dedicate solely to her something which I'm doing for the first time in my life Take care everyone and take care of your friends too, peace out :) Edit:I eventually wrote a poem to her and she absolutely loved it!

I love all my bffs. And all my friends are my bffs because I don't like the idea of just having one bff and everyone else are just friends, ya know? I also don't like the idea of not including someone because it's happened to me more than once and it hurt. So all my friends are bffs because I don't want anyone feeling left out or jealous.

I love to be friends with everyone in the class. Cause, I get to know their perspectives and world views to everything going in the class. Even better, I can get to know them as a person. Which is just, I don't know how to put it. But, I value human interaction more than anything. I'll even ditch my homework for friends. Offcourse then I have to... To do more work? Anyways, talking to people, whoever it may be, is most of the time, worth it.

One with no friends can't relate 😢😅

I haven't had any freinds in years but when I did it was the best year of my life, even chatting with them makes me feel so motivated to live life to the fullest, sadly they all moved out :'(

I’m middle age now & have had some of my closest friends since I was 12 yrs old

I'm a teenage and funny how my best friend is the one that broke my heart.

Friends buy you food. Best friends eat your food. -Unknown

I do have friends but it's hard to say who's a true friend or a foe which always makes me feel lonely.

Igained a vest friend last year in November as my old best friend made me choose between my new one of them...they weren't nice anymore and we're becoming toxic so I chose mynee bestie and now we're still bestest best friends almost a year later can't imagine my life without them!^^. love them so much and we've been theough a lot together^^

I lost all my friends in pandemic Now im alone I should be sad But im ok Its weird

Introverts be like: who got me into this?

Friends can help you grow. They can give you what they have that you lack and in turn you can give them what they lack that you have..

And now that friendship TURN TO FOREVER LOVE💝

*I work all day, in my bed room. I am loving it. ;-;*

As if you guys knew I made 2 new friends on my group therapy yesterday! 😁

I'm 13 and I do not have an actual real friend that you hang out with and talk to a lot with, I never had a genuine friend until I was 11 but we argued 24/7 and were friends for about few months, ever since I was in nursery till year 8 (7th grade) I never hung out with anyone and I was so quiet and shy my whole life esp at skl, I was even yelled at by teachers for being too quiet and I didn't and still dont even know how to talk to others properly but I was (and still am) just so scared to talk to others my heart hurts so badly and beats so fast when I am in a social situation, I hate when I'm around lots of people I literally struggle to breathe, people keep telling me to be friends with others but when I tried to they dont understand me at all, I recently started to talk to someone who considered me a friend and even they dont understand me, she keeps telling me that she will help me overcome whatever thing is wrong with me but all she does is force me into MORE social situations, but I want to be with her still since its the only way ill ever feel something other than emptiness, loneliness and numb, I want her to distract me from all those emotions, idk what to do anymore n idk what's wrong with me.

spending my adolescence with no friends sucks I don't regret cutting off toxic people but I sometimes wish I could have them back

Honestly I’ve never really had much of a reward from talking with people and making friends I’ve always wanted to be a big people person but never really have

I used to have a group chat with 2 friends and one of them cut us off with no apparent reason, my friendship with the other friend is no longer the same, although we are still in talking terms, our conversations have decreased and the conversations are no longer lengthy as they used to be. Finding new friends is really difficult as its difficult to find someone that is trustworthy and has similar interests as yourself.

I've always known I can go through my whole life without real good friends, but it would feel like torture if I did.

TED-Ed: this video is REALLY INTERESTING for me!

I have only one friend who I’ve known since preschool and haven’t fought in the 13 years I’ve known him. Though in the past year we’ve become increasingly distant and I’m afraid I’ll be alone. Im very loyal however so I’m trying to reconnect as much as I can though it’s been risking my education.

I wish I had been true to my teenage friends...all those years I tried so hard to be a good friend. I turned myself what they needed me to be, instead of being my original self. It's true I was trying to figure myself out...but I didn't get the space I needed. It's been 5 years since we shared dorm and classes, but what I then hoped to be special is something I resent now.... dear friends! No you didn't know who I was...and we were'nt the same...we don't share wevelengths, although you believe the opposite and I never corrected you.

Ahh.. so that's why I'm so attached!

The Internet was my friend but over the quarantine I've realized how different we are like the hypersexual culture that I don't understand, but now I've corrupted my brain with it, and nothing feels real sometimes.

Euhm what about people without friends? like me?