Social Media Harder to Give Up Than Sex, Shows rijo42 Survey

MANCHESTER, England, Jan. 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- A new study about what Brits would be least willing to give up for a month has found that only 23% of people would be willing to sacrifice social media.

That means social media is harder to give up than sex, tea, meat, and more. The only things more difficult to cut out for a month are chocolate, deodorant, coffee, and booze.

The survey, carried out by commercial coffee retailers rijo42, also revealed that women are far more attached to social media than men (25% vs 21%), but much less concerned about giving up sex (18% vs 27%).

There was a clear age split, too, with 33% of 16-24 year olds saying social media would be too tough to lose, while only 21% of 55+ year olds agreed. When it came to profession, workers in HR, sales, and marketing are least willing to abstain from their social media accounts, while workers in the legal and finance sectors value sex more highly.

Other interesting insights from the survey of 2008 people include that women are much more attached to tea than men (27% vs 18%), people from Newcastle are least willing to go without booze (33%), and people working in transport are worryingly resistant to giving up alcohol (39%).

The overall results are:

Which of the following would you be least willing to give up for a full month?

rijo42 aimed to discover what Brits were most attached to, and what they felt most capable of giving up, as the New Year started, with full results available here.

Although New Year's resolutions have been a thing for (literally) millennia, the recent popularisation of events like Dry January and Veganuary (both founded in 2014) have contributed to a resurgence in abstaining from something in the first month of the year.

However, a recent YouGov study revealed that 3 in 10 people have already failed Dry January, succumbing to a sneaky sip, falling off the wagon, or abandoning abstinence altogether.

Sean Griffin, director at rijo42 said of the findings:

"Everyone's got their vice. For some it's a glass of wine at the end of the day, for others it's a coffee every morning. We knew that there would be some key things that people would be particularly unwilling to give up but were surprised by some of the other results, especially social media.

"This survey proved that there are lots of things that are difficult to sacrifice for a full month, so anyone who manages to start their New Year with a successful month off from alcohol, chocolate, meat, or anything else gets our respect."