Should being connected to the internet make us happier?

An exclusive Newsbeat poll of 1,015 British teenagers, put together by Comres, indicates that a quarter feel happier online than they do in real life. Is this worrying or just a sign of the times?

This, and a series of other questions, was the posed to me by Darren Adam from Radio Scotland a couple of minutes ago on a live phone in show.

What amazed me from the phone in show was that people were wondering whether the internet was really worth having!

Now remember this is Scotland, just a little north of us all in England, this is not India, a million miles away. The reason I give this comparison is not to shock, or be naughty, but as it is topical, as Internet.org is right now launching a contest to convince Indian farmers, migrant workers, women, and students why the Internet is valuable. The same could be done, it would seem for parts of Scotland.

Money To Get People Online:

This  Innovation Challenge rather famously back by Facebook will award $250,000 prizes to the best app, website, or service that makes the Internet relevant to each of the four different demographic populations of India stated above.

As Techcrunch reports:

“The contest from Facebook-backed Internet accessibility partnership Internet.org could help millions of people recognize the value of the Internet, pursue access, and gain knowledge and opportunities that can help them get better jobs and improve their lives. That could in turn help Internet.org’s flagship sponsor Facebook gain new users that it can connect to the world.”

Now whether Facebook’s motives are pure (i.e. not just for profit) in wanting to connect such people i.e. the developing nations being Facebook’s main growth area, coupled with mobile growth, you cannot argue that they see the point in being connecting to the internet.

But Should We Be Happier Online?

Personally, I feel online is a double edged sword – which through things like Meetup and social media can bring people together. In fact, from the study - a third of 15 to 18-year-olds in the UK have met someone in person they originally met through social media.

Which has to be a win for social media and mental health but the other side of this is the potential to be addicted to social media and to miss out on the real world outside.  As the survey also indicated:

• 25% of teenagers admitted they were addicted to social media but 62% thought their friends were instead
• 25% wished they could give up social media
• 13% said their online friends knew them better than their real-life friends
• 51% of the respondents said they felt it important to check a notification as soon as it came through.

A lot of these stats are worrying and probably affect a person’s happiness, again something that I know personally.

However all the doom and gloom of the phone in show and the questions surrounding it really missed the point. The internet is a tool, nothing more; it is an amazing tool which gives us so much potentially. However, it is how we use it. More and more reports are coming out how Facebook really can make us happier.

But… Facebook is not the only internet. Do we really need to watch more cat videos? Or do workers in India for that matter.

Have you say…

And in case, all these newsbeat facts has got you down, here are 5 Ways To Add Some Happy To Your Online Social Life

----------------

About Internet.org

This is a Facebook partnership with Samsung, Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia, Opera and Qualcomm named Internet.org, aimed at bringing affordable Internet access to the 5 billion people without it.

----------------
About the Author:

Dan is a Digital Marketing Trainer, Speaker and Consultant specializing in Digital, Social and Mobile technologies to help businesses, especially digitally focused businesses, make more money.Dan aligns his passions for marketing and teaching, by being a keynote speaker / business trainer in events around the country for household names like O2 / Telefonica.Dan has over 17 years in all round marketing, specialising in Guerrilla Marketing Tactics,12 in B2C marketing, 10 in B2B marketing, 7 years in Digital and 5 years in Social and Mobile Marketing.

Hear him tweet about marketing @ukmarketinghelp