Singapore – Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) released the Asia- Pacific (APAC) findings of its global research study, The Next Normal: The Rise of Resilience. A follow-up to the original The Next Normal study in 2012**, the sequel surveyed over 28,000 people ages 6-54 in 30 countries, and this includes seven countries in this part of the world (Australia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, and the Philippines).
The study revealed that over the past five years, concerns about terrorism have increased globally (by 40 percent), while trust has dramatically decreased in people and institutions (down 33 percent for religious leaders, 25 percent for politicians). Closer to home, the top three things believed to be as bad as they can get are: wars around the world, terrorism and cyber-crime.
However, people are more resilient than ever. Close to 70 percent of APAC respondents (global: 71 percent) feel equipped to deal with the lemons that life throws at them, and compared to 2012, they feel more upbeat about life (up 16 percent) and slightly more empowered (up 2 percent). Despite everything happening in the world, people in APAC are happier now than they were five years ago (76 percent vs. 69 percent) and feel less stressed (30 percent vs. 41 percent).
They have shifted their sources of happiness toward experiences over things (with “being successful” and “having plenty of money” dropping on the list of top sources of happiness). When it comes to coping mechanisms, music and humour were identified as key tools for navigating life, with nearly 80 percent using music for inspiration and 65 percent using humour to achieve things in life. “Five years ago, we embarked upon a revolutionary new research study which gave us a snapshot of life in 2012,” said Christian Kurz, Senior Vice President of Global Consumer Insights at Viacom. “While many big moments good and bad have changed the world over the last half decade, what we’ve learned from our second iteration of The Next Normal is that despite rising fears, there is a growing resilience and the APAC community is showing healthy positivity about the future.”
