me_irl

Quality > quantity

i mean i'm well over 40 and haven't seen anything to demonstrate that life is better with more than 3 friends

Not me

As a teen I had >300 good friends phone numbers in my phones contacts. I was constantly turning people down who wanted to do activities / hang out, because I didn't have time to maintain that many friends. It felt really bad and stressful, especially when they tried to persuade me and it was just impossible to spend time with them. At some point I just had to power down my phone and never powered it up again. Improved my life a lot.

Decades later, I have a new phone number and phone now, but my contacts are few and I keep the number secret.

Unironically yes

I make 3 new friends at every stage of my life, career, and living situation. I also lose those same 3 friends and never speak to them again if any one of those variables changes.