New research from online estate agents Purplebricks reveals eight in 10 (84%) residents in the region follow the latest local dramas in a group chat with people living along their street.
More than three-quarters (76%) of people say they mainly use the chat for ‘general updates’ about the area, but almost a quarter (24%) say they are in these chats for safety or crime prevention purposes, as well as being ‘friends with their neighbours’.
While the two biggest topics of conversation are events in the area (39%) and discussing litter (33%), considerable texting time appears to be devoted to local tittle-tattle and snooping.
Almost a third of residents in the region say their chat is a platform for ‘calling out bad parking’ (29%), while more than a quarter say it is used for discussing ‘bin days and times’ (26%).
The weather is also a regular talking point in over one in 10 (14%) of East Midlands chats.
Membership of WhatsApp chats is slightly lower in the East Midlands compared to the rest of the UK at 85%, according to the survey of 2,000 adults from across the nation.
Two in 10 (21%) UK adults keep their local street chat on ‘mute’ while nearly as many (18%) admit they would love to leave, but feel it is too awkward to do so.
Nearly a quarter (23%) of Brits said they would be prepared to banish a neighbour from the group if their chat etiquette became rowdy or unwelcome.
More men (87%) than women (82%) are in local WhatsApp chats, and membership is most prevalent among the youngest generation of adults, with interest waning as people get older.
Gen Z leads the way with a staggering nine in ten (91%) saying they are members of a street chat group. Millennials (87%) and Gen X (82%) are close behind, with eight in 10 involved.
Three-quarter (77%) of Britain’s Baby Boom generation are members of local chats.
Scots are the nosiest neighbours with nine in 10 (95%) admitting they’re in a local WhatsApp chat. Yorkshire and Humber has the fewest chat members, with seven in 10 (77%) in a group.
Tom Evans, Sales Director at Purplebricks Estate Agency, said: “Every man’s home is his castle, as they say, it’s no wonder he wants to know what’s going on beyond the ramparts.”