Four in ten Brits haven't seen their sibling in a year and a half

Nearly four in ten Brits haven’t seen their own siblings in a year-and-a-half, a new study has found.

Research found that despite having hundreds of friends and followers online, Britons are spending less and less time with their real-life friends and family.

According to the research, carried out by Nescafe, more than a quarter of us (28%) haven’t spent time with our grandparents in two years and more than half of us (54%) haven’t seen our closest friends from school in more than three years.

The study, which quizzed 1,500 people on their contact with their nearest and dearest, found that 10.4 million of us haven’t seen our oldest friend in more than 12 months – with nearly half (47%) saying their oldest friend was someone they had known since childhood.

According to the research, 38% of adults admitted neglecting their friends and family due to work and family pressures.

Nearly two thirds (62%) claimed they are just “too busy” to get to see the people who mean the most to them and more than one in five say they’re too tired to make the journey back home.

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According to the survey the main reasons for not seeing close friends and family enough include work commitments getting in the way (39%), while 31% said they were busy with their own children. A quarter said they don’t have enough money to travel, and 6% said they always end up in a row.

But it’s not just face-to-face contact that’s suffered, with the survey showing grandparents receive a phone call just three times a year and we keep in touch with cousins just twice a year.

And despite the benefits of online connectivity and social media, the poll found more than two thirds of people (67%) say as a result they’re lacking real life communication with real friends.