Why does making friends as an adult feel like mission impossible?

In this episode, Melissa explores what it means to be a friend while grappling with a friendship break up. Along the way, she interviews Anna Goldfarb, journalist and author of “Modern Friendship: How to Nurture Our Most Valuable Connections,” and Dr. Marisa G. Franco, professor and author of “Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make—And Keep—Friends”. They explain why friendship can get so complicated as you get older and how to build closer bonds.

Featured guest

• Follow Anna Goldfarb on Instagram, LinkedIn, Substack, and at her website
• Follow Marisa G. Franco on LinkedIn, Substack, and at her website
• Buy Anna Goldfarb's book, Modern Friendship
• Buy Marisa's book, Platonic

Connect with the team

• Follow @cornerpiece.pod on Instagram and TikTok
• Follow @answerinprogress on YouTube and Patreon
• Follow the hosts on Instagram! Sabrina, Melissa, Taha
• Follow TED on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X, and LinkedIn

For the full text transcript, visit ted.com/podcasts/corner-piece-transcripts

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From group chats to video calls, technology should make social connection easier than ever. So, why is everyone so lonely?

In this episode, Sabrina sets out to investigate the "loneliness epidemic" that is sweeping the globe and impacting her friends and cohosts. She interviews Professor Fay Bound-Alberti, author of "A Biography of Loneliness: The History of an Emotion" to understand what loneliness is, where it comes from, and whether there is a "cure". In the process, Taha and Melissa challenge Sabrina to tackle her own loneliness through a sidequest that reveals just how hard connection can be in modern life.

Featured guest

• Follow Fay Bound-Alberti on LinkedIn and at her website
• Buy Fay's book

Connect with the team

• Follow the hosts on Instagram! Sabrina, Melissa, Taha
• Follow @cornerpiece.pod on Instagram and TikTok
• Follow @answerinprogress on YouTube and Patreon
• Follow TED on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X, and LinkedIn

For the full text transcript, visit ted.com/podcasts/corner-piece-transcripts

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Corner Piece is a new podcast from TED and AIP that starts small on life's biggest questions.

Join Taha, Melissa, and Sabrina (lifelong friends, full-time nerds) as they connect their personal questions to the profound nature of being a person. Using the skills they learned documenting their curiosity on their YouTube channel, Answer in Progress, they start with a day-to-day question or worry, like: Is there a right way to split the bill? Why does it feel so hard to hang out these days? Is romance dead?

They’ll interview experts, go on side quests, and figure out how much of their problems are caused by the complexity of modern life… and how much is just a part of the human experience.

New episodes every other Thursday.

For the full text transcript, visit ted.com/podcasts/corner-piece-transcripts

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.