MZ Generation Finds Friends: "We Now Meet Online"

"It's nice to find friends who share my schedule and hobbies"
More popular since the COVID-19 pandemic
A much more advanced trend than the 'PC communication' era of Generation X

"I feel lonely and bored, but most of my friends nearby are married, so it's hard to meet them."

Ms. Park, a woman in her 30s who works part-time packing at a shopping mall, sometimes meets friends through KakaoTalk open chat rooms. She has also tried finding neighborhood friends through the secondhand trading app Danggeun Market. Even though she meets these friends online, there is no real difference from meeting friends offline. Just like with other friends, they eat together, go to cafes, or watch movies. She said, "It's nice to have people I can meet when I feel lonely because I can't see my friends," and added, "I look forward to the next meeting, and sometimes I even feel like I've met someone truly special."

Pixabay

The culture of making friends online is spreading among the MZ Generation (Millennials and Generation Z). Danggeun Market even has a dedicated section where users can post to find 'neighborhood friends.'

On June 12, a review of Danggeun Market and KakaoTalk open chat rooms showed that, like Ms. Park, it was easy to find people looking for neighborhood friends. Unlike before, when people would post with a specific purpose such as joining a club, most were now simply looking for friends to share everyday life with. The reasons were diverse, such as looking for someone to go to a local cafe with, someone to walk their dog with, or someone to try a new restaurant with.

Mr. Won (34), who lives in Gyeonggi Province, started looking for friends through open chat after moving and finding he had no one to meet in his new neighborhood. At first, he only intended to chat lightly, but when he found someone he clicked with, he would meet up in person and spend time together. He said, "It's hard to coordinate schedules with actual friends because everyone is busy, but the advantage of open chat rooms is that you can find someone to meet right now," and added, "Personally, I feel awkward doing things alone, so I like that I can meet friends this way and spend time together."

Kim, a 23-year-old university student and Doosan Bears baseball fan, recently created an open chat room to find friends to go watch baseball games with. He said, "I started looking because I didn't have any friends nearby to go to the stadium with," and added, "Since we share the same hobby, it wasn't as awkward as I expected, and sometimes we became close enough to go watch games together often."

Looking for neighborhood friends in the 'Neighborhood Friends' tab on Danggeun Market. Screenshot from Danggeun Market

This trend is largely influenced by the recent rise of 'hyperlocal' culture. Hyperlocal refers to a very specific, narrow local area. As urbanization and individualism have advanced, the concept of 'neighborhood' had been declining, but after the COVID-19 pandemic restricted movement and shrank people's daily range of activity, it has started to reemerge.

In response, major platform companies are also strengthening their hyperlocal services. For example, Naver, a comprehensive internet platform, has introduced features such as 'Follow' and 'Reaction' to help users communicate with others and discover places that suit their tastes. Kakao has also added a 'Local Tab' within KakaoTalk, which provides content related to users' interests based on their location and recommends open chat rooms for communication within the same area.

Experts analyze that as individual preferences become more distinct and online platforms diversify, it has become easier to make friends online who share similar interests or intentions. Koo Jungwoo, a sociology professor at Sungkyunkwan University, said, "Since the X Generation (born in the late 1960s to the 1980s) when PC communication began, there has been interaction online," and added, "The difference now is that, unlike in the past, there is no longer prejudice or fear about meeting people online."

Professor Koo also noted, "Recently, there is a growing desire to meet people who are similar to oneself," and added, "The fact that there are now various channels to meet people with similar tastes has also had an impact."