The latest friendship buzzword comes from an unlikely but rather cute source: penguins.
“Recently I learned that the act of sending your friends [and] family little videos and tweets and memes you find online [is] called pebbling, like how penguins bring pebbles back to their little penguin loved ones,” an X user wrote on the social media platform late last month.
The penguins may have the right idea: As we age, friendships become increasingly difficult to maintain. New responsibilities crop up ― babies, more demanding roles at work ― pushing friendships to the wayside. Other times, one friend moves to a different state, physically testing the bonds of friendship. (If you live in a traffic-heavy place like Los Angeles, even a move to a different neighborhood can result in dwindling get-togethers.)
As we’ve written before, when you haven’t seen each other for a while and don’t have the emotional bandwidth to engage in a full-on conversation, sending a meme or a funny video ― pebbling, as it’s now being called ― is a great way to maintain a friendship.
“It’s a way of saying, I see you, I know who you are, I know what you value,” said Marisa Franco, a psychologist and author of “Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make ― and Keep ― Friends.”
