Face-to-face friendships may be fading in Canada. New data suggests Canadians are spending less time with friends as life becomes increasingly busy. However, one group here in Winnipeg is looking to buck the trend. Bringing people together For the past 41 years, Ray Antymis has been running the “Adventures for Successful Singles” group in Winnipeg. “The goal is to make sure people are enjoying themselves, intermingling with each other,” Antymis said. The group dubs itself Manitoba’s most popular singles club with up to 50 events each month, including activities like pickleball, card games, and Sunday brunches. Though it’s not a dating group, Antymis does admit some members find love. But the goal of the group is to help members find community and connection. “They want to meet other people, not necessarily for romance, but to be with other people,” Antymis said. What the data says According to new data from Statistics Canada, the time Canadians are spending with friends has been dropping in the past few decades. In 1986, nearly half of Canadians saw friends on an average day, but in 2022 that dropped to just one in five. Canadians between the ages of 25 and 64 saw the sharpest decline. Dalhousie University sociology professor Laura Eramian said life has changed since the 1980s, and with the rising cost of living, work often takes priority. “If you start thinking about the various ways people might be squeezed for time right now, maybe it is not so surprising that friendship—the most informal, the least obligatory—is the first thing to go,” Eramian said. Antymis said a lack of friendship, or at the bare minimum, social interaction can have big impacts, leading to depression and loneliness. He noted the pandemic and social media have only made the problem worse. “People need people, and not against the apps and social media. But the thing is, people really do need people,” he said. That’s why Antymis hopes his group can put the emphasis back on face-to-face friendships. “If you’re making friends, that’s the big thing.”
