Saturday, August 10, 2013

Big Data and Depression

Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, a man with three first names, explores google searches for depression and the possible causes and correlates.  My favorite finding is that most people are happiest at Christmas:
Depression is, unsurprisingly, highest on Mondays and lowest on Saturdays. The date on which depression is lowest is Dec. 25, followed by a few days surrounding it.
I quite enjoy Christmastime, and I'm glad to hear others do too.  I was a bit surprised as quite a few people report Christmas blues.  The most depressing day of the year is February 27th.

The takeaway is that weather correlates with depression (searches) much more than anything else.  People are happier in warmer weather.  While I'm quite happy in CT, a nice vacation to some place warm at the end of February sounds pretty great.

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