Some people prefer to make few friends, and it is undeniable that it is easy to build more close friendships when people have few friends. However, I believe it is better to make a lot of people. In the following paragraphs, I will illustrate in detail why I think this way.
To begin with, making a lot of friends helps people to be more competitive in the job market. Nowadays, if people desires to get profitable and rewarding jobs, they cannot avoid intense competition with others. This is due to the fact that other people may also want to get such jobs, so they apply for the jobs. Therefore, it is essential to be relatively competitive from employers' perspectives in order to get decent jobs. Considering this, making a lot of friends is great way to increase competitive advantages. This is attributed to the fact that people who have a lot of friends are usually considered to be more social and generous, so they are preferred by employers. A survey conducted by Tokyo University demonstrates this is true. According to the survey, 78 percent of the CEOs of the top 150 companies considered as the best places to work answered they favored those who have a lot of friends. The CEOs explained why they showed such tendencies. They said that they believed those people tended to be social and generous, and these characteristics enhanced work performance in the long run.
On top of that, making a lot of friends helps people live happier lives. According to a study conducted by Tokyo University, the proportion of Japanese people saying they are living happy lives has decreased since 2000. There are various plausible theories trying to explain what brings this change. However, the theory that steadily reduced opportunities to interact with others have had negative impacts on overall happiness is relatively uncontentious. Considering this theory, making a lot of friends is a great way to live happier lives. This is due to the fact that many friends give more opportunities to interact with others. A study which followed after the study I mentioned above demonstrates this is true. Researchers performed the follow-up study with the people who said they were not living happy lives. Researchers required them to make more friends. After 6 months, researchers asked them whether they got happier and what made this change. Most of them answered that they got happier because having more friends enables them to converse and share thoughts with more people.
To sum up, the more friends people have, the more possibility to be competitive in the job market and happy in their lives people have. In this regard, I firmly believe that making a lot of friends is more beneficial for people.