We've all heard the old saying that patience is virtue. While patience is generally a good trait to have, it's also one a lot of us have to work at on a daily basis. After all, life is stressful and it's easy to become impatient when we're juggling multiple obligations or projects. That said, have you ever wondered how impatient you are compared to those around you?
Interestingly, Marchex did some intense digging and discovered which states are the most and least patient. To gather their data, analysts from the Marchex Institute studied speech patterns, silence, ringtones, and hold times in 2 million phone calls between 2013 and 2015. These phone calls were placed by consumers to businesses. The goal? To uncover speech patterns across the United States.
Now, studies show your speech can reveal all sorts of information about you. Speech patterns can reveal anxiety, anger and tension, and how confident you are. Digging even deeper into psychology, some studies report that speech patterns can reveal if someone is a psychopath. Pretty intense stuff! Now, the Marchex Institute delved into some lighter topics, but ones that are definitely interesting in daily life. Over at Science of Us, Tanya Basu looked at which states are the most talkative (New York) while Megan Garber at The Atlantic focused on which states speak the fastest (Oregon). For me personally, the most interesting part of the data was the findings on which states were the least and most patient, which researchers determined based on how long people would stay on hold.
For a visual representation of the breakdown, you can check out the maps here. Interestingly, there's a good amount of impatience in New England, while there's also a good amount of patience in the Southeast. Perhaps the slower pace of life gives people a greater sense of calm? Regardless, science says it's generally better for your health to be patient. Some people believe that being patient makes you more likable, as well. While being patient is often easier said than done, there are many hacks to becoming more patient, should you choose to work on it. You shouldn't change yourself to conform to others, though I think most situations are helped, not hurt, by exercising a little extra patience. But if you lose your cool, you can always claim you're from Kentucky.
Let's take a quick look at the top five in each category:
Which States Are The Most Patient?
- Minnesota
- Illinois
- Florida
- Colorado
- Louisiana
Which States Are The Least Patient
- Kentucky
- Ohio
- North Carolina
- New York
- West Virginia
Now, as far as I can tell, the data about specific demographics hasn't been released yet. This potentially matters because it tells us the age groups, incomes, genders, and so forth of the people whose phone calls were recorded. Some of these factors may impact the results, some may not. You can request the full data from Marchex, though I haven't received it yet myself. If Marchex releases the data, though, I think the demographic information would be awesome to use for further analysis on speech patterns!
