Do phone calls from long-lost friends excite you? You’re not alone. A new study finds people often underestimate how much their old friends will appreciate receiving a call from them out of the blue.

Researchers found that participants who called, texted, or emailed someone in their social circle to say hello consistently underrated how much their friends would value hearing from them. Meanwhile, the friend receiving the message placed a much higher value on the surprise social interaction.

“People are fundamentally social beings and enjoy connecting with others,” explains lead author Peggy Liu, Ph.D., from the University of Pittsburgh, in a media release. “There is much research showing that maintaining social connections is good for our mental and physical health. However, despite the importance and enjoyment of social connection, our research suggests that people significantly underestimate how much others will appreciate being reached out to.”

The study featured several experiments involving over 5,900 people, looking at what factors affect the amount of appreciation someone feels when others contact them. In one experiment, study authors asked half of the participants to remember the last time they reached out to someone in their social circle “just because” or “just to catch up” after not speaking with them for a long time. The rest of the group took the opposite approach, remembering when a long-lost friend reached out to them.

The two groups then had to rate on a seven-point scale (one meaning “not at all” and seven representing “to a great extent”) how much the person receiving this communication appreciated or felt grateful, thankful, or pleased about the message. For people making the call, this meant guessing how much their friend enjoyed hearing from them. The people receiving the call had to rate how much they appreciated hearing from a long-lost pal.

Researchers say that many people have likely lost touch with members of their social circle in recent years. Aside from people naturally drifting away from those who went to high school or college, the pandemic has added another layer of social isolation for some.

Moreover, the team says people often worry about how someone perceives the gesture of reaching out after a long period of silence. However, the new study finds saying hello “just because” is a much more welcome surprise than many may think.

“I sometimes pause before reaching out to people from my pre-pandemic social circle for a variety of reasons. When that happens, I think about these research findings and remind myself that other people may also want to reach out to me and hesitate for the same reasons,” Liu concludes. “I then tell myself that I would appreciate it so much if they reached out to me and that there is no reason to think they would not similarly appreciate my reaching out to them.”

With the busy lives that everyone has, it can be challenging to keep in touch with old friends. Most people only keep in contact through social media, but you never know what a phone call or text message will mean to someone.