In a follow-up post to the original WhatsApp text analysis, here’s a 5 year recap.
Over 1,800 days since our first message, we’ve exchanged 84,746 messages. Matt sent 44,365, while Lara sent 40,381. That’s a difference of 3,984 messages — it looks like Lara’s got some catching up to do in 2023 2026!
A 5000ft view
Let’s take a look at some updated graphs for the same metrics we reviewed last time…
Fig 1: WhatsApp Messages By Month
Fig 2: WhatsApp Average Message Length By Month
Fig 3: WhatsApp Messages By Hour
The most noticeable difference is the drop in messages when we moved in together in September 2023, which is probably expected. It’s interesting that average message length had stabilized around a year before the move, and unlike message count, it wasn’t impacted by the change. The hourly message counts show that we did (finally) message between 5am and 6am.
Perhaps reviewing message counts and averages no longer reflects how we experience our relationship.
Timeline
The data doesn’t tell the whole story, so hopefully a timeline of our relationship adds some colour…
*Note: Availability of “nice” photos was a key factor in an event’s inclusion in the timeline, so some meaningful moments aren’t shown here — that doesn’t mean they weren’t important.*
Happy Fifth Anniverary
Thank you for a wonderful 5 years, full of great memories. It’s been so fun going back through all the photos and remembering the laughs. Here’s to the many more to come. I love you.