Translate the following passage into English.
研究表明，与20年前相比，尽管社交媒体越来越受人们欢迎，但是青少年的朋友却日益减少。一份历时12年、涵盖20万高中生的研究发现，虽然年轻人的朋友越来越少，但是他们更多交友的意向并无增多。该研究认为，经济变化在促使个人主义增长的同时，可能导致人们交友兴趣减弱，使人们更多转向自立、增强自尊、减少孤独感。
Despite the growing popularity of social media, teenagers have fewer friends than they did 20 years ago. A survey, carried out for 12 years, of more than 200,000 high school students found that young people had fewer friends, but less desire for making more friends. The study has shown that economic changes lead to increased individuality, which could lead to decreasing interest in friends, increasing self-reliance, increasing self-esteem and decreasing loneliness.
