Anna Goldfarb

Anna Goldfarb is a friendship journalist who has reported for outlets including the New York Times, the AtlanticTime magazine, Vice, The Cut, Vox, and the Washington Post. Called “the New York Times friendship correspondent” by Tim Herrera, the editor of the New York Times Smarter Living section, she’s written hundreds of articles that explore the nuances of friendships, relationships, and pop psychology. She lives in Philadelphia. For more, visit annagoldfarb.com.

Author photo © Gab Bonghi

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Anna Goldfarb: Wholehearted Friendship

Friendships aren’t always easy and fun. Like all meaningful relationships, they require work. They require nurturing and a willingness to grow. And in today’s world, explains author and journalist Anna Goldfarb, many friendships are being pushed to the brink and painfully ending. In this podcast, Tami Simon speaks with Anna about her new book, Modern Friendship, an empowering guide to creating what she calls “wholehearted friendships.”

Enjoy this conversation that’s filled with insights and strategies you’ll find especially helpful in our isolated, hyper-fluid society. Tami and Anna discuss: the increasing ambiguity of 21st-century friendships; the false promise of social media; the core elements of a successful friendship strategy; memorial friendships vs. active friendships; Jacuzzi friends, bathtub friends, and pool friends; three main causes of friendship breakups; the three requirements—consistency, positivity, and vulnerability; choosing people with whom you can share meaning; the characteristics of wholehearted friendship; and more.

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