"Single-serving friend"

If you have seen "fight club", you might still remember what Edward Norton was referring to. Many people (who did not see it) think it is a movie about violence and all the Hollywood stuff, and therefore do not want see it. They are wrong. What I can tell you is that it is the only movie, after seeing which I went to buy the novel (links to the author's entry on Wikipedia, not an ad) of it.

The main character's only "friends" are those he meets on the planes amid his business trips, who he never sees again, -- hence "single serving". I will let you find out what the movie is about. The issue I want to raise is the fact that it becomes increasingly difficult to make close friends as one grows up, at least it is the case for me.

I do not claim I understand why this happens. I can only throw out some guesses. Maybe as we grow up, we also grow a protective cocoon around us, being aware of the risk of interpersonal relationships. Maybe we become so focused on our own agenda that we don't have the time or energy to build friendships. Or maybe our wives keep us from making friends?

Anyway, on the issue of friendship in general, how can we expect Sir Francis Bacon to not have pondered it? See his essay "Of Friendship". But he did not make this observation at all, let alone theorizing it. Maybe it was not a problem in his time.