Give me your chat message and I'll tell you how old you are

If you are older than 11 years, you have a phone. And we can have all sorts of opinions about that, but it is the means to stay in touch with our friends and loved ones, and that makes us happier. Did you know, for example, that Snapchat users rate the quality of their friendships higher than people who do not use Snapchat?

This is how you bond
I must say that I sometimes find the anti-phone policy of schools and parents a bit outdated. Of course, it is important to read a book and climb a tree, but it is not exactly true that the phone is the source of all evil. You can learn a lot from TikTok videos, and social media are also means to connect with others and maintain friendships. If you are meeting your new class and want to bond a bit with your classmates during the summer vacation, then you add them on Snapchat: much easier than asking someone for their phone number and texting them.

Almost half of the Dutch are convinced that contact with friends would have been lost without social platforms and communication apps, according to research. This is true for both young and old.

“Friendships are very important,” says Natascha Chamuleau, general manager of Snapchat Benelux. “For our mental health, to feel more confident, and to make us better people. Technology provides a solution to stay in touch with each other, no matter where you are. Because let's be honest: what is more fun than spending time together with the people you love?”

Nothing is as lonely as a person without friends
Dutch people have an average of three best friends and five good friends. This raises the question: is there actually such a thing as an ideal number of friends? If you start counting, what number do you come up with? In any case, we prefer a small group of good friends over a large group of acquaintances or just one best friend.

Friendship is more important than love
We also value the quality of the friendships we have. Sometimes they even outweigh our love life: one in three young adults (up to thirty years) finds having good friends more important than being in a relationship. Still, we believe it can always be better as Dutch people, namely by checking in with each other more often and having deeper conversations about how we feel, what occupies us, and what is happening in our lives.

Snapchat is the platform where friends are central, originally founded as a reaction to the popularity contest and the hunt for likes and comments. A place where you can truly be your real self. And this is also reflected in the research. People who frequently use Snapchat score higher on the quality of their friendships than the Dutch who do not. By sharing both your highs and lows with each other and not just the perfect picture, we come closer together.

Every generation has its communication style
Interestingly, the way we communicate with each other differs by generation. For example, Gen X'ers seek the most depth online. Gen Z'ers love memes and gifs, and those aged 45+ prefer congratulating friends. The digital replacement for sending a birthday card. Millennials are the least keen on using emojis and prefer sharing photos. Perhaps not surprisingly, boomers choose text messages more than anyone else, with the occasional cautious and sometimes poorly chosen emoticon.

About the research
The research was commissioned by communication app Snapchat and conducted by PanelWizard among over a thousand Dutch people (ages 16 to 65), representative by gender, age, family situation, labor participation, education, region, and generation.