How to Make Friends as a Teenager: An Amazing Guide [2022]

Making friends as a teenager can be a daunting task sometimes, and not having enough friends when you are growing up as a teenager can take a toll on your mental health. Having one good friend is absolutely necessary, but there are many ways to do it!

In this article, you’ll learn about how to make good friends as a teenager. Haven’t all of us dreamt of having a Joey to our Phoebe or a Monica to our Rachel? Well, worry not, here’s an article that is going to help you with the tips on “How to make friends as a teenager?”

If you follow these steps, soon enough, you’ll have more friends than you can handle!

How to make friends as a teenager can be tough. There are rules and pressures from school, parents, and even your peers. Despite all of these pressures, it’s not impossible to make new friends when you’re growing up. 

These are some tips for becoming more social during your high school years and how to make friends as a teenager. Some will help make friends in person, while others are aimed at helping you build friendships online:

* Join clubs or teams: Joining clubs is an easy way to meet people who share common interests. Many of these organizations get together outside of scheduled practices and games, making them perfect opportunities to hang out with other members in a low-pressure setting.

* Start volunteering: Volunteering is one of those things that seems nice on paper but doesn’t always work out so well in practice—but if there are children involved (and particularly if they’re elementary-aged), it’s actually a great opportunity to find kids looking for playmates. 

If they ask you how old are you? Just tell them how old they sound, which would eventually lead you to have some amazing group conversations. And once friendship starts budding, Saturday night plans might not seem too far.

5 Tips for Making Friends After School

Some of the tips on how to make friends as a teenager are:

1. Sign up for activities

One of the easiest ways to meet new people is by joining extracurriculars and community organizations.

And if you already have your after-school hours booked, you’re still not out of luck—volunteering with your friends or working on hobbies can also help create bonds between you and other kids at school or around town, which is good for the teen’s mental health too.

2. Get involved in student government

If you’re not interested in joining a sports team or another after-school activity, there are other ways you can become more integrated into your school community: try joining student government and help make policy changes that benefit students like yourself which is a good way of making new friends.

3. Stay positive

New friendships take time, so don’t get discouraged if it takes you a while to fit in; just remember that getting to know someone takes both time and effort on both parties’ parts.

Be confident (and kind) with how you interact with others, but also remember that every person may take different lengths of time warming up to new friendships! Eventually, good conversations can help make good friends.

4. Look past appearance

The most important part of making friends isn’t what they look like—it’s how they treat you!

5. Go online

Even though we live in an increasingly digital world, some communities are still smaller than you might think. Try meeting new people through forums or interest groups focused on common interests such as music, film, or general issues facing youth today. You never know who might be just one click away from being your next friend!

6 Tips to Make Friends Online

1. Don’t post about other people

The best way to make friends online is by starting conversations, not by talking about yourself or putting others down.

Posting something rude or snarky that bashes someone else can be tempting, but it will definitely keep other people from wanting to be your friend. While you can still post pictures and talk about pop culture, stay away from gossiping or posting anything mean-spirited.

2. Don’t depend on social media for friendship

Just because you met someone through Facebook doesn’t mean they’re suddenly your best friend — although it might feel like it at first! In reality, make friends in real life and then follow up with them online.

It feels much more genuine if you’ve actually met and gotten to know each other. Plus, if you ever get in a fight, you can meet up face-to-face and talk about it! Here are ways how to make friends as a teenager.

3. Tell people how they can find you

If someone is interested in being your friend, show them where they can reach out to do so easily by including some easy ways for them to get back in touch with you (in case of emergencies or just because). Here are ways how to make friends as a teenager.

4. Use hashtags (#)

Hashtags are easy ways to find new things. By using hashtags that relate to your interests and hobbies, others who share those interests will be able to see your posts and, hopefully, start talking with you!

5. Interact regularly

When you first post something new, tag it so that you can return later to interact again with others’ comments or questions.

6. Say hi when you want to say hi

If there are several days or weeks between your interactions, then it may look more like spam than friendly conversation. Remember that everyone has their own lives going on outside of social media. Sometimes, it takes longer than we want to respond; don’t take too long yourself, though! Respond soon after you see posts from others.

Did you try them already or what? Here is how to make friends as a teenager given in this article.

8 Ways to Make your Friendships Last

Here are some ways how to make friends as a teenager last a lifetime.

1. Know What You Want Out of a Friendship

This is probably going to sound obvious, but it’s worth saying anyway: If you want your friendships to last, you need to know what type of friend you want in your life—and make sure that person is someone who would want to be friends with you in return. Here are some more ways of “How to make friends as a teenager?”

2. Be Open & Real About Who You Are

Being true to yourself might mean accepting parts of yourself that other people don’t approve of, but hey, isn’t it better than faking it?

The sooner you realize that no one will accept everything about you and decide to live as your most authentic self instead of trying to please everyone else, the sooner you’ll find real friends who will love and accept ALL of you. This is another way of how to make friends as a teenager.

3. Keep Your Circle Intact By Moving Inward

How to make friends as a teenager? More often than not, close friends leave our social circles. 

While part of that change can happen naturally due to changing schools or moving away for college, we also lose many friends after high school when our focus changes from having fun with lots of different people to seeking out deeper relationships — especially romantic ones.

4. Accept That Change Is Unexpected

One of my favorite quotes that relate to friendships says: Change is inevitable, except a vending machine. Whether or not you believe vending machines aren’t capable of adapting, one thing I do agree with that quote is that change happens.

5. Embrace (And Empower!) New Relationships

We usually start off a friendship with someone we already know—a sibling, an old friend, a co-worker, etc. But as we get older and move through different phases of our lives, it’s possible to make friendships with people you haven’t known for as long or that have completely different hobbies or interests.

6. Don’t Let Friends Say No To You

How to make friends as a teenager? I’m sure we’ve all been in a position of not knowing whether we want to ask someone out on a date or ask them to be bridesmaids at our wedding.

But that uncertainty can also apply to friendships, and it’s not just about one person saying no but both agreeing that whatever it is you’re asking for would be a bad idea.

Always use your judgment when deciding whether or not to take no for an answer. (Or, for that matter, when deciding whether or not to use your judgment at all.) But if you’re unsure about what to do and you have a gut feeling it’s wrong, trust your instincts.

7. Reciprocate

I think we all have friends who treat us like royalty, and then there are those whose door is always open if you need an ear, a hug, or advice on how to survive an upcoming exam.

I think it’s so important to remember that friendships are a two-way street, and we shouldn’t just expect our friends to be there for us if we’re not willing to return their generosity. Friendships aren’t about taking; they’re about giving back. This is how to make friends as a teenager.

8. Don’t Hold Grudges

I think we can all benefit from reminding each other to stay positive. And by ‘we’ I mean our friends, but also ourselves.

Many of us have experienced disappointment or broken promises when it comes to friendships, and while some people aren’t worth your time, that doesn’t mean they aren’t redeemable! Trust me; I know firsthand what it’s like to be burned by a friend who hurt you with words. Here is how to make a friend as a teenager.

These are the ways how to make friends as a teenager. This blog is going to help you groom your personality pleasantly.

Why Making Friends as a Teenager Difficult

Here’s a better understanding presented on how to make friends as a teenager and why it is difficult to make friends. Everything is intense in adolescence. Even a rip feels like a tear.

Hormones are raging, and feelings run high; it’s pretty normal to crave alone time when you’re in your teen years. And, because adolescents are still learning how to navigate relationships, we often don’t know what types of friends we want or need—it can take quite some time before you find people like you.

The good news is that friendship skills develop over time, and there are things you can do (as early as middle school!) to foster healthy friendships and create lasting bonds with others. Here’s how to make friends as a teenager.

Last Updated on July 11, 2023 by Steffy Michael