Just As Happy…or Sad…As Anyone Else in the World?

Do you tend to feel good in the morning (around breakfast time), only to have it fade through your day; and then feel good again later, sometime after dinner? If so, you fit right in with people from all around the globe.

With the help of Twitter, Cornell University researchers monitored the emotions of 2.4 million people in 84 countries; and they published their results last month. They found that people from all around the world tend to experience this same pattern of emotional ups and downs.

At first glance, you might assume that this pattern occurs because people hate going to work. However, this makes less sense when you take into account that the same pattern occurs on the weekend – though the morning tweets tend to occur a couple of hours later than during the weekdays. So, it is more likely that there is a biological component to this pattern. (That said, the researchers did note that people were generally happier during the weekend than during the week.)

Another interesting result is actually something that they did not find. There was no indication that people felt sadder during the short winter days or happier during the long summer days, as people commonly assume. However, they did find that people tend to be happier as the days BEGIN to lengthen around March, and they tend to be less happy as the days start to shorten again in September.

It’s important to note that the results of this research might be skewed. For instance, the results might not apply to everyone, but rather be representative of the kinds of people who tweet. These people tend to be young, affluent and very comfortable with computers. Another possibility is that people might tweet what they think others want to hear, rather than what they are actually experiencing. Also, the researchers used a text analysis program to determine people’s moods. It is possible that the way people are expressing themselves is too complex for these programs and affected the outcomes (i.e. being purposefully extreme in how they express themselves, assuming others understand this—but the program does not pick it up).

Overall, the results are interesting, but are they accurate? Does your experience match them? If not, how does your experience differ? And, what are your thoughts about all of this?

Comment here or join a general discussion about what affects your mood on the Relationships and Coping Community.