Scientists Prove Existence Of "Relationship Black Hole"

Scientists Prove Existence Of “Relationship Black Hole”

Have you started dating someone recently? Have you noticed that in the rush of your new relationship and finding out all the cute things about your new squeeze and the dates and the fun and the lovey-dovey social-networking proclamations and omg the sex that some of your closest friendships have run a little, well, cold? Well, OK, you probably didn’t notice. (Because omg the sex!) But that’s all right, because once you come up for air and/or breakup drinks, Science will be here to remind you why certain people haven’t been returning your calls as quickly as they might have mere months ago.

[Oxford University researcher Robin] Dunbar’s team used an internet-based questionnaire to quiz 428 women and 112 men about their relationships. In total, 363 of the participants had romantic partners. The findings suggest that a new love interest has to compensate for the loss of two close friends.

Speaking at the British Science Festival in Birmingham, Professor Dunbar said: “This was a surprise for us. We hadn’t expected it.

“If you don’t see people, your emotional engagement with them drops off and does so quickly. What I suspect is that your attention is so wholly focused on the romantic partner you don’t get to see the other folks you had a lot to do with before, and so some of those relationships start to deteriorate.”

“What I suspect”? Hmm. Now I want to know what sort of personal experience Dunbar has with this particular phenomenon! Because that is so not the only potential scenario at play here.