Research institute Motivaction has, in their annual Mentality Monitor, shown that Dutch people are leading more sober lives as the realities of the financial crisis take hold.

Declining materialism

Just over a third of the Dutch population (34 percent) reported leading a more austere lifestyle by choice. Fifteen years before this figure sat at 23 percent. Property has declined in importance and sharing cars and other material possession has become increasingly common.

Further to this, 43 percent of respondents reported feeling a greater personal responsibility for their own lives and felt they should be less dependent on the government.

Less open to wider society

The report also found that people in the Netherlands are less open to wider society, stating that they would rather interact with family, friends, acquaintances, colleagues or other like-minded people.

Expressing yourself through social media is also shown to be a growing trend, while a fascination with dreams and fantasies is shown to be a symptom of the global crisis too.

Video games and 3D movies are popular methods with which people escape the realities of the crisis.

Fascination with violence

Perhaps worryingly the report has also noted a growing fascination with violence in the Netherlands. The percentage of people who believe that violence on television and in movies should be limited has fallen from 82 to 68 percent since 1998.

Mentality Monitor

The Mentality Monitor is an annual survey compiled by research institute Motivaction using written responses from a representative sample of 1.000 people since 1998.

Source: nu.nl