Survey Results
In August 2020, Hi Anxiety partnered with the Connected Learning Lab at the University of California Irvine to better understand our audience’s experience with the Hi Anxiety Instagram account. The survey asked participants questions about why they follow the account, how they engaged with the platform and whether they seek outside sources of support for mental health. The survey was shared on our Instagram account via story and feed posts requesting feedback, and 180 people completed the survey. Some things we learned were:
77%
of respondents felt Hi Anxiety was extremely or very useful
69%
follow Hi Anxiety for emotional support
64%
use Hi Anxiety for practical advice or tips
48%
feel nervous or anxious nearly every day
46%
received help from a mental health professional in the past year
25%
don’t have people in real life to discuss these topics with (i.e. stress, anxiety, personal struggles, etc.)
When respondents were asked why they follow Hi Anxiety, a few main themes stood out from their qualitative feedback:
Hi Anxiety helped respondents feel less alone and part of a community.
“It kind of makes it easier knowing that I am not alone.”
“It helps me feel normal.”
“It helps to know I'm not the only one feeling the way I do.”
Respondents used our tips and tools to manage their own emotions and stress:
“It helps me through my day, gives me positive thoughts.”
“It makes me feel calm when I am stressed out and anxious.”
Some used Hi Anxiety as a tool to help them reflect on their own emotions and mindset.
“It helps me understand my anxiety and why I do the things I do or why things happen the way they do while having anxiety.”
“[Gives me] inspiration to stay in the right headspace, [and] remind myself it’s okay when I’m not in a good headspace.”
Our audience shared our content with loved ones as a way to better communicate their experience of anxiety.
“[Hi Anxiety helps] to find language to use when describing anxiety to others, to not feel alone.”
“I find it difficult to express my emotions to others, so I relate to Hi Anxiety posts a lot.”
We have anecdotally noticed many mental health professionals following our account. One shared: