Top 10 activities that make women happiest online
In a recent study exploring the nature of internet happiness conducted by Carphone Warehouse, 2,002 UK adults were asked to rank the online activities that make them most happy.
The study shows that shopping and entertainment have the highest impact on our mood, with activities such as ‘Achieving the winning bid on eBay’ and ‘Discovering online discount codes’ ranking high in the top factors that influence our online happiness.
The results show that for women, the top online activity that most impacts their happiness was “winning an eBay bid”, whilst men stated that “online dating” gave them the most pleasure. Women ranked online dating twentieth, behind ordering a takeaway and managing money online.
Here’s a list of the activities that women classed in their top 10:
Top 10 activities that make women happiest online
- Achieving the winning bid on eBay (80%)
- Instant messaging with friends and family (80%)
- Discovering online discount codes for your favourite retailers and saving lots of money (79%)
- Looking things up that interest you (78%)
- Discovering the best deal through price comparison sites: from booking hotels to finding a great insurance deal (77%)
- Discovering cheap fun days out from websites like Groupon (74%)
- Finding the perfect meme/gif and sharing it with everyone (71%)
- Browsing new bands/tracks through Spotify (71%)
- Obsessing over a new music video on YouTube and replaying it 100 times over (70%)
- Getting your comment retweeted or liked by someone you love or admire (69%)
What makes you happy online? Take the quiz and test your online happiness score.
Experts share their insights on what makes us happy online and the impact of the internet on our happiness:
Anna Akbari, PhD
Sociologist, entrepreneur, writer and former professor at NYU and Parsons School of Design
…on virtual profiles
How can we be happy online?
There’s no regulatory body kicking you off Facebook or Instagram after a certain amount of time each day. Nor is someone stopping you from repeatedly virtually stalking your ex’s profiles, all of which can be self-destructive if left unchecked. Bottom line: you need to control your engagement with the platforms, and not fall victim to a constant state of virtual FOMO.
Perhaps you limit yourself to only checking social media once or twice a day (as opposed to every hour), turn off all mobile notifications for “likes” and instead keep them on only for direct messages. Virtual profiles and the platforms that host them must be approached like a drug: seductive, fun, powerful, and dangerous. Use them responsibly.
Dr. Pamela Rutledge
Director at the Media Psychology Research Center
…on being happy online
How can we be happy online?
Recognizing that online behaviours can produce the same feelings these triggers engender offline allows us to take steps to avoid situations that spark our discomfort. For example, if following certain people on Facebook make you feel left out or not good enough, unfollow them. If watching silly cat videos on YouTube makes you laugh, then schedule in a cat video during your coffee break. Laughter literally changes your body chemistry.
