1. lose weight (431 people)
2. be happy (313 people)
3. fall in love (280 people)
4. save money (278 people)
5. get a job (231 people)
6. read more (187 people)
7. quit smoking (155 people)
8. run a marathon (131 people)
9. move out (123 people)
10. get married (121 people)
All of these resolutions are things people discuss on a regular basis and are very generalized. In addition, all of the numbers of people who have these as resolutions clearly shows how few people are active on this website. In comparison to many other social networks, these numbers are extremely low and seem strange to think that even if only 121 people in the world have put this as their resolution, it is amongst the most popular. This is not able to be generalized to a greater population. But even with these small numbers, the site says at the top of this page "13,880 people have made 38,955 resolutions. Here are the most popular".
But aside from these most popular, there are tips from others who write articles about how to actually achieve your resolution and stick to it. These different sources to seek help and support are a great way to help many stay motivated and excited about their resolutions.
Additionally, the site has a link that allows you to see the trends in local areas and the world of which goals were made.
When comparing the previous years, some things appear to remain the same while other trends come from out of the blue. It seems as though in the past, the goals used to be more specific and detailed about something you have control over. Nowadays, it seems that the most popular ones are broad and ambiguous that many don't have control over.
This site tries to encourage and promote goal-making and setting resolutions in many different ways. By making it so easy for one to find and see goals and compare their experiences to others helps those who may not have the motivation helps them to see that it is possible. It reminds many of different goals that they may not have thought of and helps those who use it to find that there are ways to have resolutions that are not overwhelming.
I find it really sad "lose weight" is above "be happy." i mean, what the heck. clearly if you're losing weight to be happy. oh people and their weird values.
ReplyDeleteI think that the sense of having others on your side can be encouraging- whether it be in the quest to lose weight for a new year's resolution or finding the inner strength to make a serious lifestyle change. The internet can connect people to each other and form support networks in this way. I once read an article on the success of dieters who recorded their meals on blogs. Their high rate of success in losing weight and keeping it off is thought to be caused by the sense of the accountability they feel to the blogging community to be honest about losing weight.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a really interesting site. Like you said, a lot of the resolutions seem to be standard ones that you hear every year, but the one that caught my eye was "fall in love." As badly as some people want to find a boyfriend or girlfriend, to make it a new years resolution just seems a little desperate to me. I mean, people have control over going to the gym and losing weight or reading more, but they don't exactly have control over finding love. It's almost like they're planning ahead to just settle for some person to be in love with. Rough.
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