Making adult friends: is it still taboo in 2026?

We were at the La Boum des Ladies event in Liège. What we observed taught us a lot about how we relate to loneliness, and why it's still "shameful" to look for friends.

That evening in Liège, something strange happened

La Boum des Ladies, for those who don't know: it's an outdoor event in Liège where girls get together to have a drink with friends, enjoy the evening, and watch the film La Boum projected at 10pm on a giant outdoor screen. Light atmosphere, good vibes, lots of people. Our Purple stand was right there, in the middle of it all.

Girls came to talk to us, chatted with us, downloaded the app. But what we mostly observed was something else. Many would walk up, read the sign... and walk away, embarrassed. Not because they weren't interested, quite the opposite. But because their friends were watching. Because stopping at our stand meant admitting something they weren't ready to say out loud: "I struggle to make friends too." or "I don't have many."

Several of them whispered to us once they were alone: "I'll download the app when I get home."

And they kept their word, downloading the app once they were back home, alone, away from any outside gaze.

Friendship loneliness: the taboo nobody talks about

We talk about emotional loneliness. We talk about romantic loneliness. Tinder has been around since 2012, and today nobody bats an eye when you say you met your boyfriend on an app. But saying publicly "I'm looking for friends"? In Belgium at least, that's still something you whisper, not proclaim.

And yet the reality is there, silent and universal: after the age of 25, making new friends becomes objectively hard. Studies end, colleagues stay colleagues, nights out become rarer. We pile up "we should hang out" messages that never go anywhere. And we end up, surrounded by people on Instagram, deeply alone in our real lives.

According to a Red Cross study, 1 in 3 Belgians regularly feels lonely. But how many actually dare to talk about it?

France vs Belgium: two cultures, two relationships with vulnerability

We experienced this contrast first-hand. When we present Purple in France, reactions are direct and uninhibited: "Oh that's amazing!", "I need this so much!", "I'm downloading it!" People laugh, share, ask questions without any embarrassment.

In Belgium, in Liège especially, social pressure is different. More present. What the group thinks matters enormously. Admitting a weakness, even a small one, takes a kind of courage that not everyone has on a Friday night in front of their friends.

This isn't a judgement. It's an observation. And it's exactly why Purple exists: so that this step becomes simple and pressure-free.

Why is finding love on an app normal, but finding a friend isn't?

The question is genuinely worth asking. Looking for love involves far greater vulnerability: you expose your most intimate desires, you risk rejection, you play with your heart. And yet Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge are among the most downloaded apps in the world.

Looking for a friend? You just want someone to grab a coffee with, go for a walk, talk about life. It's human, universal, beautiful. And yet that's the thing that still makes people blush.

The answer probably lies in our collective relationship to "social performance." We're supposed to have a solid friend group, inherited from school or university. Admitting that circle has frayed, or never really existed, touches something deeper than love: our sense of belonging.

Looking for love is human. Looking for a friend takes even more courage, because nobody has really given you permission to do it yet.

Things seem strange before they become normal

In 2009, saying you'd met someone on the internet drew awkward looks. In 2026, half of all couples met online and nobody cares.

The path is always the same. An idea seems strange. Then a few early adopters take the leap. Then it becomes common. Then we can't imagine doing it any other way.

The girls downloading Purple today are those early adopters. The ones who decide that friendship loneliness doesn't deserve silence. The ones who choose to act instead of waiting for things to change on their own.

In a few years, we're convinced of it, saying "we met on Purple" will be just as unremarkable as "we met on Tinder." And that evening in Liège, the girls who didn't dare come up to our stand... might be the first ones to tell everyone about it.

What if that's you?

If you've read this far, it's probably because you recognised yourself somewhere. In the girl who walks up to the stand and walks away. In the one who says "we should hang out" without ever setting a date. In the one scrolling Instagram at night wondering why she feels alone even though she has 800 followers.

You don't have to wait for it to be "normal" to do something about it. You can just... download the app. 💜

See you on Purple? 💜