NEWS COPY
Four in ten Brits have been told they’re boring on at least one occasion, new research has revealed, with London home to the most boring population in the country.
Rather than white water rafting, swimming with sharks or hand-gliding, most Brits consider getting an unplanned takeaway as their idea of risk-taking.
The study, carried out among 2,000 Brits, found that many see sitting in first class with a standard ticket and booking a holiday before you have the money to pay for it as ‘edgy’.
It also revealed that one in six Brits think eating something past its sell-by date is among the ultimate risks someone can take.
But our tendency to err on the side of caution could be turning us into a country of bores. A massive 38 per cent of people questioned in the survey said they had been told to spice up their lives on at least one occasion, with eight per cent saying they had been told on numerous occasions.
London was found to have the highest proportion of boring people with 47 per cent of people been told they are boring on at least one occasion.
57 per cent of respondents said their social life needs sprucing up the most, more than work life and their relationships. Half of respondent in London said they feel their life needs more excitement which is the same as the national average.
More than a third of people said they didn’t consider themselves to be a risk taker, with only 15 per cent saying they definitely are.
A spokesman for spread betting company, Spread Co, which commissioned the study, said: “It’s interesting to see what a typically reserved person considers to be a risk.
“Risk after all is completely relative. While one person might not think twice about playing the markets to the tune of thousands, another feels like they’re chancing it by ignoring the petrol warning light.
“That’s why we carried out this study – we wanted to see what the reserved Brit considers to be risky.”
One in six Brits think eating something past its sell-by date is among the ultimate risks someone can take.
Other risks include standing over the yellow line on a tube station platform and driving with the petrol light on.
However, to some, it seems parking in front of a driveway, opening a cupboard or box that says ‘do not open’ and turning up to a gig without a ticket are among the ways to get this excitement.
And when it came to real risks, more than half of Brits said they had never participated in any extreme activities such as mountain climbing and surfing.
Despite ten per cent of people admitting they have driven home after ‘one too many’, only five per cent have hang-glided and eight per cent have been white water rafting.
But risks, no matter how big or small, have got in the way of many relationships with 37 per cent of people having an argument or a disagreement with their partner because of a risk.
“It is interesting to see that many of the answers, rather than being ‘boring’, are classic cases of risk management — as the results of the survey show, many people would consider not wearing a seatbelt or exceeding speed limits as ‘risky’.
However, in the trading world, these precautions are tantamount to risk management: they can’t necessarily stop a car crash but they will at least keep you in one piece!”
Some 43 per cent of respondents said that risks have cost them money in the past, so it could be a case of ‘once bitten, twice shy’ for many Brits.
Spread Co’s spokesman added: “Traders at the stock market, for example, are frequently confronted with the situation to step outside their comfort zone in order to increase their profit. We therefore encourage people to take calculated risks rather than careless risks, especially when money is involved.”
The Risks we Don’t Take
Swim with sharks
BMXing
Tombstoning
Hang-gliding
Surfing
White-water Rafting
Placed a bet of more than £100
Kayaking
Mountain Climbing
Skiing/Snowboarding
Risks we Do Take
Checking your Facebook/email when abroad knowing it will cost a fortune
Being given too much change and keeping it
Getting an unplanned takeaway
Getting the last tube/train home
Getting something different for lunch
Going out with wet hair
Going on a big night out on a work night
Booking a holiday before you have the money to pay for it
Being the last passenger to board a plane
Buying something frivolous that would take you in to your overdraft
Checking your Facebook/email when abroad knowing it will cost a fortune
ENDS
