14/11/2014

Survey From Microsoft

Almost one third of Irish adults find a trip to the dentist is less stressful than hosting Christmas day

With the Christmas lights now officially shining over the streets of Dublin, it is no surprise that we all have the holiday season on our minds, but as we all know, the festive season can be tough work! A new study* commissioned by Microsoft has found that almost one in three Irish adults (31%) experience less anxiety around the dreaded visit to the dentist than hosting Christmas day in their home! Despite this, almost two thirds of respondents (56%) confessed to celebrating the holiday at home regardless of the strain with little over a quarter (29%) avoiding this pressure by spending the day in their parents’ house.

Here at Elevate we are undisputed tech fans so we weren’t surprised to note that Microsoft’s survey found that the majority of Irish adults relied on technology to dilute some of the biggest stresses around the holiday season, namely shopping for gifts and keeping children entertained. The research found that half of Irish adults do their Christmas gift shopping research online but still buy offline, while a further 30% of us now shop online for all gifts. Good news for parents is that almost half (48%) of Irish parents admitted that they use devices such as smart phones and tablets during the Christmas holiday period to keep their children entertained, with Dads proving to be particular culprits here by being (58%) more likely to rely on technology during the holiday period than mums.

Though over half of respondents (51%) disclosed that they find Christmas to be a stressful time of year, there’s no denying that it’s a special time too and we can’t wait for it all to kick off!

Shop Microsoft holiday gifts in store or online at Currys, Harvey Norman and PC World across Ireland, in operators nationwide and at www.microsoftstore.ie