You're a Type A. They're a Type B. Can you be friends?

A new social media trend satirises the differences between those who are organised and/or stubborn, and those who are laidback and/or feckless. But are we right to separate ourselves into further personality categories asks Ellie Muir

- Ellie Muir

For her recent girls' trip to Sicily, 26-year-old Lucia booked the flights, accommodation, airport transfers, dinner reservations and day activities.

She even packed a first-aid kit and enough plasters, anticipating everyone's holiday sandal blisters. Lucia is a self-confessed Type A - an expert when it comes to spreadsheets, calendar invites and colour-coded itineraries. Her friends, however, are Type B - laidback, sometimes lazy, a bit chaotic. And upon their arrival at the villa Lucia had booked for all of them, they didn't seem all that grateful.

"They didn't put any ideas into the collaborative Google doc I'd shared the week before," she tells me. "I said I was happy to book things, but I didn't expect to plan the whole thing. I know I sound a bit intense at times, but I was trying to make sure we all had the best holiday possible, and they didn't seem to care as much."

Dynamics between Type As and Type Bs can be tricky. On TikTok, a recent trend has seen young people share satirical videos of their friendship group, usually filmed on holiday, in which they grow increasingly resentful over their differences. In one video that's acquired more than 2 million views, a feckless Type B asks their stubborn Type A friend if they can just "go with the flow" while on holiday, rather than sticking to a strict schedule. The Type A looks at their watch and replies: "OK, but what time does the flow start?"

Lucia has found she's become more critical of her friends' apparent Type B tendencies since their holiday, and she's had brief moments when she's questioned their entire friendship. "I do love how spontaneous they can be, but I've also noticed how they prefer to make plans at the last minute, even when I suggest things in advance," she says. "Sometimes I wonder if it might have been different if I'd had another Type A to match my energy on that trip."