A new study conducted by Virgin Mobile Canada and Vision Critical revealed that 50% of Canadians “humblebrag” on social media. And yes, the term is officially in the Oxford Dictionary. This made me literally laugh out loud… I was in taxi, too!
A humblebrag is defined in the dictionary as “an ostensibly modest or self-deprecating statement whose actual purpose is to draw attention to something of which one is proud.”
It’s very much a continued trend in the realm of social media (see #humblebrag) and it’s impacting us in our face-to-face conversations as well. So, what did the survey scrounge up?
- More than a third of Canadians who have humblebragged (38%) don’t even realize they are doing it.
- 65% of Canadians surveyed believe the humblebrag is the new “selfie”.
- 74 % of Canadians who humblebrag do it in person and 21% do it on Facebook.
- While men and women humblebrag equally, women are more likely to humblebrag about their appearance.
The study found that while 75% of Canadians surveyed say they rarely brag, nearly half (44 %) admit to humblebragging. But, Canadians claim that half of all humblebrags they see are about someone’s appearance followed by materialistic items. So, there’s a discrepancy between what Canadians admit to humblebrag about versus the types they claim to see.
While Canadians aren’t fans of boasting, they dislike false modesty more. In fact, the majority of Canadians surveyed feel it’s better to hold the humble and straight up brag.
So, how do we share our opinions without the false modesty? TV personality and self-proclaimed humblebrag expert Jessi Cruickshank gives us her tips…
“We’ve all had those moments where we’ve hovered over someone’s ‘unfollow’ button. Their ‘busy’ party nights, ‘make-up free’ selfies and not-so-humble status updates can be too much. But we’re also excited to ‘like’ or re-tweet if our friends share something awesome,” said Jessie. “We should take a page from Kimye: shed the false layer of modesty. I believe if you do something truly share-worthy, do it loud and proud!”
1. Don’t go overboard. According to the study, 59% of those surveyed believed the worst humblebrags are those where people claim to look bad when they know they don’t. So don’t overload your social media feeds with selfies questioning your beauty. But being pumped about a new job opportunity or wedding proposal is totally ‘like’-able!
2. Stop mistaking pride for bragging. Being proud about something isn’t the same thing as rubbing into everyone’s feeds.
3. Make it funny! Humour diffuses almost anything. If you can find a way to share while cracking a joke, it will make your followers laugh, instead of unfollow.
4. Do away with the #humblebrag hashtag. 61% of Canadians surveyed say adding the hashtag still doesn’t make your boast acceptable.
5. Haters gonna hate no matter what. It’s pretty easy to take a shot at someone who has put themselves out there. While not everyone will love your post-worthy moments, remember that you do. Stand by your accomplishments and don’t take the negativity to heart. For every hater, there’s a fan and hey, at least you’re giving them something to talk about.
Do have the urge to humblebrag about something? Go for it! Feel free to share yours in the comment section below!
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