A recent online survey conducted by Los Angeles-based market research company Alter Agents and social media company Snap Inc., which manages Snapchat, between July and September this year, found that the pandemic had changed friendships around the globe. 

In the study, which involved 30,000 people aged 13 to 14 in 16 countries, including Indonesia, the United States, Australia, France, Germany and India, 67 percent of respondents said the COVID-19 pandemic had not affected their friendships, meanwhile, 37 percent said their friendships had changed during the pandemic. Moreover, 47 percent of respondents said they felt closer to their friends during the pandemic than before. 

Indonesian respondents had a slightly different take on friendships during the pandemic. 

The study involved 2,500 respondents from Indonesia, with 57 percent of them saying the pandemic had not impacted their friendships, however, 72 percent said they no longer felt close to their friends.

The study also discovered that the level of loneliness among Indonesian respondents had increased to 42 percent, or 18 percent higher than pre-coronavirus days. 

Read also: Chronicles from quarantine: Stories from self-isolation

According to antaranews.com, 51 respondents said they felt lonely as a result of not being able to meet their friends, while 29 percent felt their friendships had become weaker due to limited social interactions. 

When asked about communication tools, 72 percent of Indonesian respondents said they tended to use online platforms to communicate, and 78 percent said digital communication tools helped them to maintain their friendships.

“Most Indonesians have found it hard not to meet their family or friends during lockdown. Phone calls and messages have become important in maintaining relationships,” said Dwi Noverini Djenar, an associate professor and chair of the Indonesian Studies Department at the University of Sydney. 

Amid all the challenges, Indonesians also found a silver lining to the pandemic, as 53 percent of respondents felt that friendships were more important now, and 48 percent had tried to reconnect with long lost friends. 

Canadian-born Norwegian author and public speaker Julien S. Bourrelle also found similar changes among Scandinavians. 

“Many Scandinavians feel that the limitations imposed due to COVID-19 brought them closer to their friends," he said during an interview with Snapchat. 

Bourrelle added that Scandinavians had shifted to organizing activities online and were more inclusive in their invitations, building more ties than they would have otherwise. (jes)

 

Editor’s note: This article is part of a public campaign by the COVID-19 task force to raise people’s awareness about the pandemic.