Is there a relationship between Internet Usage and Happiness? That was the research question of my project called the Virtual Happiness Project. As you might remember I spent the whole month of December being offline, just to experience what that did to me and the people around me.

I was asked to talk about my experience during TED University this year. So, here are the slides of my presentation and the written out version of my talk:

Could you live without the Internet?
Ask yourself that question. Could you live without the Internet for a day, for a week, for a month or langer? And what would you do?

I asked Seth Godin, who is also a speaker here on TED and he answered: I’ve thought about that, I’d have to open a restaurant. What an amazing answer, to an intruiging question. Why am I interested in this question? it’s is because I myself went completetly offline for the whole month of December 2008. No google, no email no surfing. no nothing.

The most fun thing I ever did… at least that’s what I thought during the first week. It was funny, it was hilarious, people were sending me hand written letters and pulling al kinds of practical jokes on me (like hiding my keyboard and mouse).

But than in the second week all the attention dried up and there I was … alone behind my desk with a huge problem. The simplest things became hard to do and I regretted my experiment at this time.

But then in the third week I experienced an immense feeling of peace of mind. I had tons of energy and have never been more productive than in that single week. I wrote half my book in this period.

Than the fourth week came… I was torn apart between feelings. Because believe me- I missed the internet tremendously- but I really liked this quiteness, this ability to focus on just one thing. So, here I am back in the digital jungle and you’re problably wondering why I did this experiment.

Well, it’s part of a research project that I’m leading. We try examine the relationship between internet usage and happiness. Because the data shows that internet users are in fact happier than non-internet users. This is the result of a study in 25 European countries with a N of 18.000.

What this tells us is that de benefits of the Internet make up for the disadvantages. Because there are. Have you also noticed these TED-sters who are constantly checking their blackberries or laptops? Not only between sessions, but also during talks….there seems to be a magic line between them and the office, right?

Now, what we did was come up with a model that visualizes exactly the situations in which Internet usage is a driver for happiness and the situations in which the internet is just making you sad.

So, with my experiment in mind and also the results of this project. The kind people of TED asked me to share with the audience 5 ways that the internet can make us happier. Grab your pencils, here we go… Rule number 1

#1 Don’t take your Blackberry or your Iphone into the bedroom.
But seriously, if you insist on bringing something, consider a new stimulating pair of boxers or a nice lotion to give somebody a massage.

#2 Accept that there is more information than you can possibly look at
This is crucial. For example. It you search Google for the word “information” you get over 3 billion results. The thought of not being able to look at all these pages causes stress and eventually leads to depression.

Teach yourself to look at 3 resultpages maximum! If the answer is not on those first pages, you clearly don’t know what you’re looking for.

#3 People are better than machines
So, if you realize that there is a gap between your question and a million answers. You should rely on social filters more. Always think that there were thousands of people before you with
the same question. If you use sites like del.icio.us or Twitter for example, chances are that the result you get is much more for YOU than from any other site.

#4 Know when to go online and when to go offline
When do you call someone? When do you send a text message? When do your write something at someone’s facebook wall. And when do you jump in your car to pay a visit.

Think about this for yourself. But remember that digital communication
always is an ENABLER for real communication, not a substitute. The best emails I get are the ones that say “Yo Jim, let’s have lunch this Friday. Same place?”

#5 And I would like to end with the suggestion to charge a cost price of 1 CENT for every sent email

- not only will it force us to THINK before we hit the SEND or REPLY TO ALL button
- but we will also gain 1,5 hours productivity a day
- It will help ISP’s to finally come up with a businss model
- and on the other hand, the average household with 20 emails won’t have any trouble paying these 20 cents a day.

AND finaly the best reason… is that we rule out SPAM immediately.
because they will never sell enough Viagra or Penis Enlargers
to pay for this million dollar investment.

Thank you!

TED University is part of the legendary TED Conference, this year held in Long Beach California.

As you may know I took part of an experiment last December. An experiment to see wether or not you can live without the internet in modern society. And of course, you can. We’re not talking about living without food or water, however it seems that more and more people feel that a wireless internet connection is as important as running water.

But to function at work and in my personal life without the use of Internet, was quite a challenge. In fact, it was a big challenge for the people around me too.

In this article I would like to share my experience with you. These are just simple observations that I wrote down in an old fashion diary. Keywords for this article would be: attention, addiction, inspiration and relief.

The first week
This was the most exciting period. I got a lot of calls and warm (hand written) letters from people who heard about the experiment. To go “cold turkey” by cutting my digital lifeline over night was a funny feeling. Have you ever heard of phantom limb pain? There was something missing and all I could think about was just that.

Everytime I was writing a story or article my left hand seemed to have a mind on it’s own and tried to push ALT TAB after every paragraph. That was my common behaviour when I was online, to see if there were any new emails. In many occasions I would wander off and open my RSS-reader or check out the most recent comments on blogs that I was following. But being offline made those actions completely irrelevant, so I had to go through with writing. Then I found myself walking to get a cup of coffee instead. It seemed that I was constantly looking for excuses to interrupt my work. Only later this month I could concentrate better and finish the document before I sought the interruption.

Week 2
The second week wasn’t fun at all. I felt alone, literaly disconnected from the network. The information junky in me missed the juice, the constant stream of information that I used to get from blogs, email and twitter. Another part of me missed the online friendships. The fun we have on Twitter or the arguments we exchange in blogpostings.

Further more, being offline really sucks. Simple things take the most time. Looking up telephone numbers for example, or just simple fact checking. I found myself printing word documents and driving 2 hours in my car just to deliver them the same day.

Week 3
But then in the third week I experienced an immens feeling of peace of mind. I had tons of energy and have never been more productive than in that single week. Obviously it took 3 weeks to get used to the fact that I didn’t have that much distraction as I would normally have. I had so much attention for my work, but also for the people around me. Conversations simply felt better and went deeper. At this stage I decided that I would write articles and give presentations about the fact that people rarely think about their own digital communication.

Week 4
And in the last week I was torn apart. Because I knew that I was going to step back into that exploding digital world, but I wanted to keep this quietness and the ability to focus on one thing at a time. My conclusion at this point was life without the internet sucks, but without email is a blessing.

So, if you consider November to be “black” and December to be “white”… all I had to do was to figure out how I could paint January in a new tint of gray. I’ll keep you posted of how I’m doing!

Well that’s it. Tomorrow is my first day in offline land. I’ll be disconnected from the internet: no email, no google, no blogging, no twitter… no nothing.

Why? Because I want to know how that is. What am I going to miss the most? And what are the things that I’m happy to miss?

These crazy questions came up when I was working on a research project. A study that examines the effects of internet on our happiness. Does the internet make you happy?

The internet makes you sad

From what I have studied the last months I can tell that some forms of internet usage really make you sad. For example people who suffer from information stress, from not being able to filter or deal with the unlimited amount of content that is potentially under their finger tips.

Or think about email. Email is a monster that gets bigger every time you fight it. Just when you think you have it under control (you’ve replied to 40 messages), at least sixteen of them are allready awaiting you with a next action. No wonder initiatives like the E-mail free Friday grow bigger.

The internet makes you happy

Also there is much proof of situations in which the internet actually makes you happy. In my talk at the PicNic-festival in Amsterdam I’ve spoken about the virtual happiness-hypothesis.

By exchanging bits and bites with people in other rooms -but behind their screens- you simulate social interaction, increasing your happiness. Because that’s what we’re built to do: to socially interact (besides to reproduce of course).

The aim of the research project is to combine all studies and theories on internet / happiness, and come up with a conceptual model. It would be wonderful to write a manual for the happy digital citizen.

No farewell, just goodbye

Don’t get me wrong: I love the internet. And I’ve done almost anything the last four years when it comes to maintaining a digital lifestyle. That’s why “The Next Web” seemed the perfect place to say goodbye for now.

I’ve decided to go offline for (only?) a full month, so I’ll be back online in January 2009. If you want to reach me in the mean time, feel free to send me a post card or let’s meet IRL.

P.s. Please feel free to comment on this article, but forgive me if I don’t reply within a month :-)