Jamaican by birth, American by citizenship.

Barely Brainiacs is a lifestyle blog for people who know that they don’t know it all.


Authors

Akayla Reynolds

Reniece Baker

Breaking It Down With The Brainiacs: College Friendships

Hey ya’ll. We’re back and we’re better!


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Welcome to the Breakdown ya’ll. We are officially able to expand the reach of our opinions to audio. Yes, audio!  You can put us on while you study, while you work, or just to listen to us being dumb. 


The Breakdown Audio is available on a multiple platforms. Soundcloud, Youtube, and of course right here on the blog! We will provide links and timestamps below. 


This session is all about college friendships. We reveal personal friendship stories as well as the lessons that they taught us. We hope that you enjoy our experiences and learn something new as you reflect with us.


Soundcloud: Breaking It Down With The Brainiacs


Youtube: Breaking It Down With The Brainiacs

Timestamps

  1. What is a Friend? – 30 seconds

  2. What makes a good friendship? – 3 minutes and 30 seconds

  3. Adjusting in Friendships. – 7 minutes 40 seconds

  4. How to support your friends progression while you are stagnant? – 8 minutes 50 seconds

  5. Betrayal. – 13 minutes 30 seconds

  6. Living with your friends – 21 minutes 45 seconds

However, we wanted to expand on certain topics that we didn’t get a chance to get to during the Breakdown. We wanted to give some practical tips that were left out of the audio. 

Practical Tips for Friendship Betrayal

Tip #1: Try to be objective and see both sides of the conflict.

Tip #2: Emotionally remove yourself from the situation. Do not escalate the issue out of anger!

Tip #3: Only apologize if it’s genuine. If it’s not genuine, clearly communicate why you won’t be offering it.

Tip #4: After a cooling off period, determine whether or not you would like to continue the friendship in its current state.

Tip #5: If you choose to stay, communicate what actions and behaviors are acceptable going forward.

Practical Tips for Being in the Middle of a Mutual Friend Fight

Tip #1: Don’t pick sides. (This one should be fairly obvious but we wanna let you know.)

Tip #2: Observe the way your mutual friends act during a heated conflict. This is a HUGE indicator of how they will behave if you and them ever clash on any issues.

Tip #3: If you choose to communicate with both sides, avoid all conversation regarding the issue between the two. This saves you from being labeled “a fake friend”. (Trust me, we know due to first hand experience.)

Tip #4: If there is a clear wrong party, communicate your opinion clearly to the group or all other affected parties.

Tip #5: Do not be an instigator. We repeat “UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU INSTIGATE OR FAN THE FLAMES”. Not only is that messy but that literally helps no one. You’re a part of the Brainiac community and we expect you to avoid the mess. 

Don’t forget to connect with us on Social Media @barelybrainiacs. And subscribe to get monthly updates via our private Google Form or scroll to the very bottom to the “Brainstorm With US” section to enter your email!

College Reflection Part 2: College Relationships ( & Safe Sex)