Aussies’ emotions to be revealed with the new ‘How Is Australia Feeling?’ app via Spur Projects
A remarkable new not-for-profit project ‘How Is Australia Feeling?’ aims to chart the emotions of Australians for a full week, from October 5th – 12th via Spur Projects, Fresh Advertising and Acache.
At any second or minute, people will be able to check out the HIAF (How Is Australia Feeling) App to see whether Australians are feeling happy, sad, powerful, peaceful, anxious or angry.
It is believed to be the first ever national barometer of the nation’s mood to be done in real time.
Lee Crockford, CEO and co-founder of Spur Projects (which works actively in the area of men’s mental health and suicide prevention) – says figures (from beyondblue) suggest 1 million Australian adults have depression and 2 million suffer from anxiety.
Crockford says the project cannot be considered “hard science”, but the main motive for the project is to generate a larger, national discussion about how Australians really feel.
He says large numbers of people who need help with their mental health don’t seek assistance and this project aims to encourage people to seek help if needed.
He hopes the nation will get healthier as a result of actively discussing our mental health. The project is very easy to take part in:
- Just download the free, easy to use App to take part (available in the iOS & Android App Stores or from www.howisaustraliafeeling.com).
- Everyone who participates will do so privately and anonymously.
- Three times a day users will be asked to press a button to simply reveal how they are feeling at that moment in time. (Users are able to change the frequency of prompts).
- The App then prompts the user to respond throughout the week (the user does not have to remember anything).
- The user can select from ‘happy’, ‘sad’, ‘peaceful’, ‘powerful’, ‘anxious’ or ‘angry’.
- Anyone who chooses “sad”, “anxious” or “angry” twice will automatically be prompted to consider seeing a GP via a pop-up message.
- The organisers want at least 50,000 people to take part (more if possible).
- No personally identifiable information will be collected through the survey.
- Men and women of all ages are being encouraged to share how they really feel.
- Users can see exactly how Australia is feeling at that moment in time via their app – it updates every time a user refreshes the screen.
- Users are encouraged to share their results with others on Facebook.
- Users are also urged to share the project via social media to get other Aussies involved.
Says Crockford: “We know that a recent report from Young and Well CRC shows a growing trend towards using on-line services for mental health. Approximately 50% of young men now use the internet to find information about mental health, yet less than 25% would recommend “face-to-face” mental health support. We need to find new ways to translate online engagement to real -world interaction.
“Certainly, many people aren’t sure what to do with their feelings. How have we let ourselves become a country where, for some people, it’s an easier option to take their own life than to ask for help? As a nation we simply have to learn to talk about how we’re feeling.
“We want real conversations on a national scale about mental health. The “How is Australia Feeling?” project is one step in this process. We urge people to seek help and information if they feel they need it.
“If, while using the app, a user selects ‘sad’, ‘angry’ or ‘anxious’ more than once, a clear prompt suggesting they considering seeing their GP or a health specialist to talk things through.
“We absolutely don’t want people to compare themselves to others. However, if people realise there are many other people out there feeling the way they do, we don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing.”
Crockford says that whilst there is an overseas myth that Australia is a nation of relaxed larrikins, that’s not always the case. He says it is time that there is much more discussion about the huge range of emotions we all feel on a regular basis.
Says Crockford: “We all like to feel happy – that’s a given. No one feels happy all of the time. That’s fantasy. We live in reality where there is always going to be stress and pressure, too. It’s normal to have a huge range of feelings. All feelings – including sadness and anxiety – are important to have and to feel.
“Part of this project is about encouraging people to be conscious of their emotions throughout the day. We expect that users will probably be surprised at the range of emotions that they will record.”
“How Is Australia Feeling?” is stage one of a larger project to create impactful campaigns around issues linked to mental health – particularly men’s mental health. Crockford says the conversation around mental health in central Melbourne is totally different to what is required in Longreach Queensland – and we need to understand those conversations better.
Crockford highlights suicide is the leading cause of death of men in Australia between the ages of 14 to 44. The rate is almost double for those living in rural and remote communities.
Says Crockford: “We have to find ways of equipping young men with both the language and emotional competency to ask for help when they need it. Finding the words isn’t always easy.”