Saturday 26 May 2012

Travel Broadens The Mind...It's A Virtual Life

It's been a little while since Gidday from the UK has dipped into the pages of BA's business:life magazine. But a quick trip to Pilsen this week meant that I had some time to waste invest in finding a few fascinating facts to share with you.

Interestingly, this post follows the same examination of a particular topic by some of my blogging brethren. The Day Social Media Took Over My Life, Bilingual Baby M and The Facebook by expat bloggers Russell in Sydney, Linda in The Hague and Kirsty in Dubai respectively have all explored the pros and cons, the whys and wherefores, of social media. 

Like it or not, our world is becoming more and more digital and we continue to embrace it in all its doubtful glory as evidenced by the hype around Facebook's floatation this month. According to business:life, we watch sport online (36% of 18-35 year-old Europeans watch more sport online than on TV) and book holidays online (that'd be 2/3 of Britons). And 4.9 million people used WiFi hotspots in hotels, coffee shops, restaurants and airports in the UK last year. So even outside the dual digital domains of work and home we continue to 'plug in'.  

In fact 10% of people would rather give up their car than be disconnected from the internet...she says, tap-tap-tapping away here having given up her vehicle some two and a half years ago.

But I digress.

Did you know that 54% of British children say they'd rather go to Google with a query than ask their parents or teachers? What a sad indictment. Although this is probably just as well. Apparently 50% of British adults think that Mount Everest is in the UK. This does not bode well for today's British babies, 1/3 of whom will live until the age of 100.

business:life statistics reveal that 20% of us check our bank accounts at least once a day - could you imagine popping into the bank and standing in line every day? No thank you. All hail the internet I say!

And let's face it - the job market will never be the same again with 150 million people and more than 2 million companies worldwide using LinkedIn. But be warned. 1 in 5 bosses turned down a candidate because of their profile on social networking sites.

So it would appear that it still pays to be circumspect. To keep some things private

Especially as 28% of British workers deem nose picking to be the most anti-social workplace activity.

Do you think that's why 90% of people would still hang onto their car?

--------------------------------------------------
Travel Broadens The Mind - Back Catalogue
...The Euro Zone
...All About The Readies
...Flights Of Fancy
...Or So They Say

6 comments:

Linda A. said...

Having grown up without Google (dare I ask 'who needed search engines before the internert?; yes, there was a time when the internet hadn't existed), I personally find search engines amazing. Simply amazing. Daughter asks me questions all the time and I'm continually saying 'I don't know, try Googling it'. But I am touched that she's still asking despite my lame response.

Thanks for the link, and fun facts from BA magazine!

Unknown said...

They are amazing aren't they? Search engines I mean. Glad you enjoyed the fun facts.

vegemitevix said...

I can remember feeling oh so clever because I used to use Dogpile :-) That was a while ago.

Unknown said...

Ok Vegemitevix I don't even know what that is...sounds strangely suspect though!? Maybe you were one of the early early adopters?

Charlie Wade said...

If 28% of people think nose picking is anti social, do the other 72% either think it's okay or do they do the actual picking? I've tried googling, but even Wikipedia's nose picking page doesn't help.

Unknown said...

LOL I love that you Googled boogers Charlie. I'd also like to add to your line of thinking by wondering about those who think it's anti social and do it anyway.