Web Makes Babes Happier

I just read a new research study that made me feel awesome about one of my decisions back in 1988 when I switched major from Civil to Electrical Engineering. Proud to be one out of the millions with the IT background that has contributed to people’s happiness by 15% 🙂

The study by  the research firm BCS suggests that, on average, people around the world think that information technology  increases their sense of freedom by 15% and improves their overall well-being. Altogether, our life satisfaction increases by 10% when we have IT access, the study concludes.

I am sure we can all relate to that.  Remember the moments when our internet craps out? literally, we are very unhappy 😦  When the connection comes back on, we are all filled with a sense of joy and immediately we feel like tweeting our joy to the world 🙂

BCS’  study set out to better understand the relationship between IT and well-being, and to determine if there is a link — positive or negative — between the two. The report, “Can IT make you happier?”, is based on data collected from more than 35,000 survey respondents across the globe.

BCS’ primary finding — that IT has a positive impact on life satisfaction — is quite interesting, especially considering that some research shows that greater wealth doesn’t correlate to greater happiness. And others believe that Internet or Facebook addiction could become a chronic childhood illness.

The results indicate that those who benefit most from IT access are women, individuals in lower income households and those with less education. The institute argues that this is because “IT helps to promote and enable empowerment and autonomy.” For women specifically it serves as an important “social and family network support tool.”

Like the old song says, “When your friends are my friends and my friends are your friends, the more we get together the happier we’ll be.”