When we compare ourselves to others, it can lead to big problems.
Excessive comparison has been linked with increased anxiety and depressive symptoms, negative body image, sleep problems, and cyberbullying. It can also lead to destructive behaviors like lying or disordered eating.
The campaign
Recognizing the serious risks of excessive comparison, we launched a campaign to educate people on the problem and provide ways for them to manage it.
We put together a 10-question survey to present respondents with the negative mental health outcomes of frequent comparison, as well as some statistics pertaining to the issue.
At the end of the quiz, we included a resource blog called “5 Tips to Stop Comparing Yourself to Others” for those wanting to work on limiting comparison in their own lives.
The results
The results of this campaign were, in fact, unusual! Going by the percentages, this campaign was less successful than Halcyon’s previous campaigns in terms of mind change and behavior change (respectively, the first and second bullet points below).
What is unique is that the percentage of “Yes” responses for behavior change (second bullet point) is higher than the percentage of “Yes” responses for mind change (first bullet point). In Halcyon’s previous campaigns, it’s been the opposite!
To sum it up:
- 42.3% of people who took the survey stated that they cared more about the problem of comparing themselves to others after what they’d learned.*
- 53.3% of people who took the survey stated that they would be more inclined to change the way they live to help address the problem of comparing themselves to others.**
- 100% of people who completed the survey clicked on the resource blog.
What you can do
If you feel like you or someone you know has trouble with the problem of comparing yourself to others, just follow these quick steps.
- Take the survey!
- At the end of the survey, check out the resource blog for tips to stop comparing.
- And share, share, share!
Last but not least, if you’re inspired by what you’ve learned about this campaign, donate! When you donate to Halcyon, you help us continue to run campaigns against problems like comparison that get in the way of human flourishing.
