Are Brits losing their sense of adventure?
New research reveals nearly one quarter of people can’t recall the last time they experienced a rush of excitement.
Two new independent surveys of more than 2,000 GB consumers each (over 4,000 in total)* has found that nearly a quarter of Brits don’t even remember when they last felt a rush of excitement or thrill. The YouGov survey was commissioned by one of the country’s leading adventure brands Go Ape, and also revealed that excitement doesn’t feature regularly in our day to day lives with more than a fifth of Brits only experiencing a rush of excitement more than a month ago, and over one in ten saying it was more than six months ago.
In addition, the findings showed that many of us generate our feelings of excitement via passive methods such as watching the X-Factor final, playing a games console or gambling. 94 people said the last time they experienced a rush of excitement or thrill was while watching this year’s X-Factor final when Matt Cardle took the title, while only two per cent said this was via an extreme sport or similar outdoor activity. Adding to the debate on how much impact social media has on our daily lives, one per cent of people surveyed online even admitted that the last time they felt really excited was while on Facebook.
Women are more likely to struggle to remember their last rush of excitement compared to men (26% vs 21%). Women are also more likely than men to have felt their most recent buzzon a theme park ride (8% vs 7%) and more men than women were found to have experienced their last rush of excitement during sex (28% vs 24%).
Will Blair, head of marketing at Go Ape comments, “It’s quite disheartening that so many of us can’t recall the last time we experienced real excitement in our lives. I find it hard to believe that it’s simply because people aren’t bothered about having fun anymore, surely most people want to experience these feelings from time to time? I think it’s more likely that we live in a busy world full of routine and it can be very hard to break-free from the societal constraints or every day pressures of work and family-life; we’re all human beings with varying definitions of what constitutes adventure and excitement but perhaps we just need reminding from time to time?”
When asked which one from a given list best described when they last experienced a rush of excitement 26 per cent said while having sex; 17 per cent while at a football match or music concert and seven per cent on a theme park ride. Other responses included while eating chocolate (one per cent), watching the X-Factor final (five per cent), while on Facebook (one per cent), engaging in an extreme sport (two per cent), while gambling (three per cent) and while playing on a games console (two per cent).
Go Ape is the UK’s leading forest adventure company with 27 giant outdoor, tree-top obstacle courses nationwide. Visitors can experience a liberating sense of freedom as they swing through the forest on zip wires, cross wooden walkways and bridges and climb tree-top ladders, safely attached to a harness. Instructors are on hand to help and all participants are given a thorough safety briefing before embarking on an adventure in the forest canopy. For more information, visit: goape.co.uk
