The evolution of digital technology has brought about significant change to the way we live our lives just within a short span of time. But has this change also affected our behaviour when it comes to friendships?
A global study by Snap Inc. involving 1,006 Malaysians found that while Malaysians generally have a wider circle of friends (both in terms of quantity and diversity) compared to the rest of the world, Gen Z is gravitating towards smaller, more intimate circles.
In the study, Malaysians were found to have twice as many best friends as those in Europe, Australia and America and are most likely to want to expand their social circle even while keeping their best friends in mind. However, Gen Z was found to be more selective of the people they let into their close circle of friends. This is especially evident in their social behaviours.
The study found that Gen Z was more reluctant to share their life updates publicly online compared to Gen Y, even when it came to celebratory moments. This shows even in terms of their preferred social networking platforms, where Gen Z favours the more private and personal Snapchat and TikTok while Gen Y prefers the more open and public Facebook and Instagram.
According to Dr Nur Hafeeza Ahmad Pazil, a sociologist specializing in friendship and intimacy at Universiti Sains Penang, this might be attributed to the fact that Gen Z is a digital native generation, familiar with the best and worst of social media from a young age. Thus, learning from the mistakes of the generations that precede them, Gen Z has learned to prioritize privacy and intimacy in their friendships.
Nevertheless, across the board, majority of Malaysians desire honesty and vulnerability between themselves and their best friends.
An ability to be honest is a true hallmark of the intimacy shared between close friends. We usually reserve true honesty and intimacy for those that are closest to us, as it’ll be a challenge if this was demanded by too many people.
We definitely see privacy becoming a bigger consideration in our social behavior these days. It’s so cool to see how our use of technology reveals our preferences when it comes to friendship!
