New Grazia Study Reveals That Lockdown Has Made Us Kinder

A new study carried out as part of our Where’s Your Head At Campaign has revealed that Grazia readers value kindness, and make a conscious effort to be kinder than they did before the start of Lockdown.

This year, for world mental health day, we’re asking readers to share their acts of kindness as part of our Where’s Your Head At Campaign. You can tell us about your act of kindness and share our interactive map at wheresyourheadat.org/pledgekindness. And with our worlds changing faster than ever, we know that giving and receiving acts of kindness has become more important to our readers than ever before. In a survey of 112 Grazia readers, 58% agreed that it is more important now to give and receive kindness, 62% of you said you’re more open to helping people, and 57% of you have made a conscious effort to be kinder.

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Loads of you have been on the receiving end of an act of kindness since the pandemic started - 63% from a family member, 51% from a neighbour, and 26% from a stranger. One reader shared how her own act of kindness was reciprocated by a neighbour: ‘We were getting shopping/prescriptions for our elderly neighbours and they put a jar of homemade jam in a bag in the fence for us.’

Meanwhile, you’ve reported feeling a heightened sense off community with your neighbours - 43% of your said you talk to your neighbours more and 80% of you said that this was where your heightened sense of community had come from, and 35% of you had bolstered that by joining or setting up local groups on social media, such as WhatsApp or Facebook.

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In a year when so many difficult thing have happened, we want to keep riding that wave of kindness, which is why we’re asking you to get involved in this year’s Where’s Your Head At Campaign. Tell us about your act of kindness at wheresyourheadat.org/pledgekindness and make sure you share our interactive map with your community on social media. We want to get to 10,000 acts of kindness by 10th October - that’s World Mental Health Day.