University of Vermont: Twitter word survey shows we are not as happy as before

University of Vermont: Twitter word survey shows we are not as happy as before

On December 21, 2011, scientists from the University of Vermont in the United States analyzed the words used on the social networking site Twitter and ultimately concluded that "people are not as happy as before."

The research results were published in the internationally renowned academic journal PLoS ONE on December 7. The study said that since April 2009, people's overall sense of happiness has been on a downward trend.

Peter Dodds, an applied mathematician at the University of Vermont and lead author of the study, told Psych Central, a US mental health website, that the results showed people's happiness was declining.

Dodds and his team came to the conclusion after analyzing 46 billion words posted by 63 million Twitter users.

The study was conducted through Mechanical Turk, a service website owned by Amazon. The specific operation is as follows: Each word sent by Twitter users will be ranked according to the degree of emotion, with 9 points meaning the happiest. For example, the word "laugh" can get 8.5 points, and the word "terrorist" can get 1.3 points. However, Psych Central said that scoring words in this way would be biased, articles and food names would not make much sense, while nouns such as "suicide" and "greed" would score lower.

The researchers found that usage of the word "happiness," at least on Twitter, has been declining over the past three years. They also found that Twitter users are happiest on weekends and least happy at the beginning of the week.

<<:  Will this oil promote cancer metastasis? Can we still eat instant noodles, fried chicken, and puffed foods?

>>:  Why do some people burp smell? It may be because they haven't farted yet.

Recommend

The Sherlock Holmes of Oncology: Genetic Testing

The 29th National Cancer Prevention and Treatment...

Is it normal to have your period four days early?

Early and late menstruation are both manifestatio...

What are the characteristics of a somatic narcissist?

Leviathan Press: In a sense, narcissism is someth...

What happens if there are lumps around the breast?

Breasts are one of the most beautiful parts of he...

Vulvar acne

The vulva is located in the human reproductive or...

Why do pregnant women have dark nipples?

Some women experience many changes in their bodie...

How to maintain the uterus after abortion?

Abortion is a common problem in our current life,...

Things women need to pay attention to during their menstrual period

Does everyone know what women need to pay attenti...

How to abort a month-old pregnancy

I accidentally got pregnant with my boyfriend, bu...

Characteristics and precautions for conceiving a boy or girl

In our lives, we are particularly concerned about...

What to do if you have a hysterectomy pregnancy

Hysterotomy pregnancy is a very dangerous conditi...

What to do if you get pregnant again after a miscarriage

I once saw a true story about a young couple who ...