5 signs you're in a millennial friendship

Ever wonder how you became friends with the friends you’re friends with? Me too.

UNC is conducting research for a Millennials Friendship Study, a campus-wide study designed to learn about the real experiences of college students through the eyes of their close friends. We predicted what these findings will be.

Instagram

Instagram is so much more than just a forum for sharing overly edited pictures.

It’s actually a vital tool for honesty in your friendships. All it takes is a quick little tag in the comments section, and you’ve confronted your buddy with a real truth bomb. Instagram tagging is to 2016 as bathroom wall writing was to 2005.

Netflix and Chill

Netflix and Chill relates more to your relationship with your bestie than it does to your relationship with your bae.

Movies are great. TV shows are great. Netflix is the major mecca for both, and, yeah, when you’re watching it, you do like to be chill. Please stop with all this tongue-in-cheek sassiness about what it means to Netflix and Chill, because you and your bestie literally Netflix and Chill on a nightly basis. In fact, watching TV together is the best passive bonding you know of, so let’s turn on “Stranger Things” and turn off the haters.

Low-quality photos

You have an incredible number of low-quality photos together.

The invention of the camera phone and the subsequent rise of Snapchat are responsible for this phenomenon. You sometimes find yourself looking through old picture albums of your mom in college, running through leaves with her pals, looking well-coiffed and carefree in a wonderfully curated way. And when this happens, you lament the fact that the majority of the pictures of you and your BFF feature a dog filter or an unfortunate face swap. Posterity has a lot to look forward to.

Meals at weird times

The majority of your shared meals together occur at unconventional hours.

Everybody has different class schedules and daily routines, but nobody in your squad has different nighttime schedules. 1:00 a.m. on an uneventful Thursday means one thing and one thing only: you and your BFF are going to Toppers. Enjoy. Meanwhile, I’ll be at Jimmy John’s ordering a #12 with my #squad.

The squad

Speaking of, you definitely refer to yourself as a squad.

Taylor Swift changed the face of friendships forever by basically copyrighting the term squad and applying it to her A+ posse. Swift’s squad is literally a model squad (because they are all models, get it?). You feel a little weird about it, but in 2016, “friend group” is totally out and “squad” is totally in.

Love us or loathe us, millennials know how to do friendships the right way. Basic as we may be, we show our affection via lighthearted GroupMe banter and extended Snapchat streaks.

So keep it up, millennials of Chapel Hill, and remember to show your squad some appreciation on this hump day.

swerve@dailytarheel.com