Sharing a photo every day makes you happy

Thursday 17 May 2018, 16:48 by Michelle Peeters | 4,938 views | 4 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Taking a photo every day and then sharing it online improves your wellbeing. That is what scientists discovered after studying a group of people who committed to photo-a-day projects, often referred to as "Project365".

The findings were recently published under the title The daily digital practice as a form of self-care: Using photography for daily wellbeing in the journal Health.

Photo: Brooke Lark
The research was carried out by British researchers Liz Brewster from Lancaster University and Andrew M Cox from the University of Sheffield.

The duo selected a number of participants with an average age of between 20 and 60. The participants posted a photo every day on services such as Instagram, Flickr and Blipfoto.

Each photographer was monitored for two months, with the researchers recording the photos taken, the captions written and interactions with other photographers in the online communities.

After two months, the photographers also took part in a telephone interview.

What the scientists discovered was that photographing and sharing daily photos improves a person's wellbeing through self-care, it is therapeutic, novel and refreshing, community interaction, it offers regular interaction with people who share the same interests, and reminiscence, it offers the opportunity to look back on someone's life.

Several quotes from the study's participants showed that doing something creative every day, having a moment to yourself to look for something to photograph, making connections with other people and gauging their reactions, and the feeling of belonging were experienced as particularly beneficial.

Looking back at good and positive memories was also very relaxing and beneficial for feelings of happiness.

Source: Petapixel

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About the author

Michelle Peeters is fotografe en oprichter van DeuxBleus Fotografie. Michelle herkent het bijzondere in het gewone en het gewone in het bijzondere. Ze heeft zich nooit willen specialiseren en is daardoor van alle markten thuis.

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4 comments

Heylen Louis wrote on Tuesday 22 May 2018 at 11:03 | reply
Of course it's nice when you can post photos, but if you post a photo every day and don't get any reactions, it does start to become frustrating.
Translated from Dutch.

Fons Verhoeve wrote on Tuesday 22 May 2018 at 15:53 | reply
Since 2005, I post a "fresh" photo on my blog every day. They are, for 99.9%, photos taken in our village Stein (Lb)

If you are curious, you can take a look at www.steininbeeld.tumblr.com. You will find almost 8000 photos there.
Translated from Dutch.

Theotje wrote on Tuesday 22 May 2018 at 17:29 | reply
Addiction to "likes" is not healthy. Especially when it disappoints one time. That is indeed a pitfall of sharing content.
Translated from Dutch.

Sjaak Buis wrote on Wednesday 23 May 2018 at 11:22 | reply
I post photos on different sites, one of them is You Pic, go have a look, lots of beautiful photos.
Translated from Dutch.

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