A new study has found that Irish people claim to do an average of 132 ‘good deeds’ every year, including liking their friends posts on social media.
Traditional good deeds such as holding the door open for the person behind you, taking in deliveries for neighbours and donating clothes to charity remain amongst the most common acts of kindness.
However, people now consider showing digital support to friends and family as equally important.
Crowd-funding platform GoFundMe carried out the study, and found that 43% of Irish people had ‘liked’ the post of one of their friends or family, and 31% had stuck up for someone who was being trolled online.
It is also women who are more likely to show support on social media, with 54% saying they had liked a post to make someone feel better compared to just 29% of men.
Jaime Thurston, author of ‘Kindness, The Little Thing that Matters Most’ spoke to the Irish Mirror about the findings. He said: “Even a small act of kindness can make a huge difference to someone’s life.
“Both giving and receiving kindness has positive effects on the brain and on the heart.
“Technology has opened up additional avenues of kindness and I’m delighted to see GoFundMe highlight the many modern acts of kindness that exist today.”
Overall, 70% of Irish people felt that the country is as community minded as it has ever been, with more than half those surveyed claiming they have performed the big three good deeds of holding the door open for someone, taking in a neighbour’s mail, and donating clothes to charity.
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Written by Andrew Moore