Watching cat videos at work makes you happier, more productive, study finds

GOOD news for office workers. You don’t need to feel guilty about taking five minutes to watch that funny cat video — science says you should.

WATCHING cat videos while you procrastinate at work may actually make you more productive, new research suggests.

A study by Indiana University researcher Jessica Gall Myrick surveyed nearly 7000 people about their viewing of cat videos and how it affects their moods.

Rather than simply entertain, cat videos were found to boost viewers’ energy and positive emotions and decrease negative feelings.

“Even if they are watching cat videos on YouTube to procrastinate or while they should be working, the emotional pay-off may actually help people take on tough tasks afterwards,” Myrick said.

She added that the results also suggested that cat videos might be used as a form of low-cost pet therapy. Of the participants in the study, about 36 per cent described themselves as a “cat person”, while about 60 per cent said they liked both cats and dogs.

“Some people may think watching online cat videos isn’t a serious enough topic for academic research, but the fact is that it’s one of the most popular uses of the internet today,” Myrick said.

“If we want to better understand the effects the internet may have on us as individuals and on society, then researchers can’t ignore internet cats anymore.

“We all have watched a cat video online, but there is really little empirical work done on why so many of us do this, or what effects it might have on us.

“As a media researcher and online cat video viewer, I felt compelled to gather some data about this pop culture phenomenon.”

There were more than 2 million cat videos posted on YouTube in 2014, attracting almost 26 million views. Cat videos had more views per video than any other category of YouTube content.

The most popular sites for viewing cat videos were Facebook, YouTube, BuzzFeed and I Can Has Cheezburger.

According to Myrick, participants in the study reported:

• They were more energetic and felt more positive after watching cat-related online media than before

• They had fewer negative emotions, such as anxiety, annoyance and sadness, after watching cat-related online media than before

• They often view internet cats at work or during studying

• The pleasure they got from watching cat videos outweighed any guilt they felt about procrastinating

• Cat owners and people with certain personality traits, such as agreeableness and shyness, were more likely to watch cat videos

• About 25 per cent of the cat videos they watched were ones they sought out; the rest were ones they happened upon

• They were familiar with many so-called “celebrity cats”, such as Nala Cat and Henri, Le Chat Noir.