TOKYO - When people hear the phrase “exchanging contact details,” many still think, “Phone numbers are old-fashioned—LINE is the norm,” but even that assumption may now be outdated, as a surprising new survey suggests a major shift among Generation Z.
According to the findings, when Gen Z exchanges contact details with someone they have just met, Instagram overwhelmingly surpasses LINE. In a survey of 100 Gen Z respondents, only eight said they exchanged LINE contacts, while 92 said they exchanged Instagram accounts.
Caster Masatoshi Nanba said the results show that, for Gen Z, Instagram has clearly become more common than LINE for first-time contact exchanges. Trend and generational analyst Megumi Ushikubo explained that the reason lies in a balance between curiosity and caution, as young people want to know more about the other person while remaining wary at the same time.
With LINE, the top screen offers limited information, making it harder to grasp someone’s personality. There are also concerns related to security and privacy, such as being added to unfamiliar group chats without consent and the tendency for real names to be registered.
Instagram, by contrast, allows users to gauge a person’s character and sense of style through their posts. Because it is not solely a messaging app, it also provides a socially acceptable excuse for delayed replies, such as being busy with other activities, Ushikubo noted.
Even within Instagram, however, there are different “levels” when it comes to exchanging contacts. Nanba said that contact sharing on Instagram itself follows a hierarchy. Ushikubo explained that young people often manage multiple accounts and use them selectively.
At first, they exchange a “main account” that features neutral, inoffensive posts, treating it much like a business card. As relationships grow closer, they may then share a “sub-account,” where they post more personal content such as honest thoughts or complaints, visible only to trusted people.
So what about phone numbers themselves? Interviews conducted on the street revealed how little they are used among younger generations.
A 20-year-old woman said she has 13 contacts saved, mainly her workplace, parents, and university, while, in terms of personal contacts, she only calls her parents and her boyfriend. A 22-year-old man said he has four contacts, mostly related to university, adding that the only personal contact he calls is his girlfriend and that he does not even know his parents’ phone numbers. A 19-year-old woman said she has just three contacts saved—her father, mother, and grandmother—while she has around 200 to 300 contacts on Instagram and about 50 on LINE.
By contrast, a man in his 50s working in advertising said that, as someone from the Showa generation, he likely has many contacts, even though he clears his phonebook once a year, leaving him with 161 entries. A woman in her 60s said she has 605 contacts, adding that she rarely receives phone calls anymore but that exchanging phone numbers used to be the main form of contact in the past.
Nanba said the times are clearly changing. Among 33 people surveyed about the number of contacts in their phonebooks, the lowest number was three, recorded by two teenage students. In both cases, all three contacts were part-time workplaces, and neither knew their parents’ phone numbers. Even a man in his 50s said his last phone call was a year ago, while a university student in their 20s said the last time they exchanged phone numbers was probably back in elementary school.
Source: TBS
