Gather up, friendship recession may have entered the group chat

Remember when friendships were just sharing your lunch at school, or just passing around chits from the front to the last bench? When we look back now, all we have plastered on our faces is just a sad, nostalgic smile. It's not the same, is it?

Friendships feel harder to hold on to now, not because women have stopped caring, but because the way they connect has fundamentally changed through the years. What we are facing is not a fallout; it is what the GenZ are calling it as the friendship recession. You have to be attentive to understand this infamous phenomenon as it is slow, structural and easy to miss.

Has friendship recession really entered the group chat?

With age comes big responsibilities, and with big responsibilities, we become hyper aware of our own lives and less present in theirs. Most women feel that friendships were much easier back when technology was not ruling everyone’s daily lives. We still have friends, but mostly always in chats and never in real moments. We miss when friendships were not scheduled based on calendars, approvals and energy we no longer possess.

For women, this loss hits differently. Friendships for them were not just a casual drive for tea around the neighbourhood. It has been more meaningful than leisure; they have served as emotional regulators, safety nets, and survival kits through heartbreaks, personal troubles, and professional stress. When the connection loses its depth, and women can feel the bond fading away, they are not just losing company; they lose their support and survival infrastructure.

Thinking, what changed? Work became a dominant aspect of life. This has left very little room for the rest of their relationships.

Growing up, women have been conditioned to become more ‘family-oriented’ and with the almost naturally existing caregiver gene in them, social communications and approval have shifted towards their family and partners, at the cost of their friendships.

With digital interaction at our fingertips, the importance of spending time and face-to-face interaction seems like an almost archaic and unimportant concept. We have officially started treating texting and video calls as closure.

Friendship recession does not mean women have stopped showing up; it means that women have quietly been conditioned to schedule connection instead of prioritising, and treat friendships that heal them as secondary or optional.

Trust us, friendships are not tough to maintain; we just really need to reconnect, and not overcall or that weird WhatsApp group, but on a coffee, or just grocery shopping!

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