Polls - Sondages : Lifestyles - Styles de vie

Discussion

Yeah, I won this sondage, I put the first message.

It was surprising to me to see how many of you could care less if a mother hit her child, and now I learn that almost half of you support treating delinquent minors as adults. What the heck's stuck up... oh, I mean that's a bit rough. Ease back.

You guys are really open-minded and friendly in my opinion, good for you. Not only did I find out that so many of you would smile back at a stranger, but I also learned recently that 43% of you wouldn't be shocked if a family member was bisexual and 57% of you wouldn't be shocked to see your child masturbate. Wow.

France it the 4th most connected to the internet in Europe after Britain and Germany. 29% are connected to the net andd 19% from home.

How important is the internet in a French person's life? Do you do a lot of online shopping?

FOOD

Just wondering if anyone could shed some light on the latest explanation of why Europeans have, in general, lower obesity rates than Americans...

TRANSPORTATION

A survey from Sofres.fr suggests that 83% of French respondents think it is unacceptable for a motorist to run a red light, and that 63% think it is unacceptable to drive while talking on the phone.

Judging from being a pedestrian in Boston, most drivers here think it is OK to run a red light while talking on the phone. Consequently, one has to practice a kind of "defensive walking." Do you feel safe from automobiles when walking around French cities? Are some worse than others?

Food: I think the reason 1 American out of 4 is obese is that they eat mostly junk/fast food. Children are brougt up on cola and hamburgers, kfc... not what one would call 'healthy and balanced food'.

In europe, peolpe take more time to have meals, and in general altough ppl find junk food somehow 'tasty' it is usually considered to be bad for the health.

Internet: Il y a quelque temps, presque personne ne se souciait d'internet en France (peu de français ont un ordinateur, et on avait le MINITEL). Mais depuis peu, le bourrage de crane a commencé, et Internet est à la mode. On essaie de nous donner l'impression que tout le monde

doit

avoir Internet, que tout ira mieux avec internet... On fait de la pub massive sur ce qui est considéré comme un "produit phare du XXIeme siecle". Le français moderne se ruine en achetant un pc rien que pour suuuuurfer sur le web, et etre cyber-multimedia-branché, sans jamais rien y comprendre.

Mais en fait, en fin de compte, le francais moyen s'en fou d'Internet. Et c'est tant mieux.

you never tried ?

la masturbation est surement tres naturelle : presque tous les hommes la pratique, les femmes ayant encore quelques blocages a ce sujet. J'espere aussi qu'elle est bonne pour la sante, mais rien ne vaut une bonne vieille relation sexuelle à deux, sous une couette ou sur la machine a laver la vaisselle pour chasser un mauvais rhum ou une deprime passagere ;) Moi a ta place, ... :-)

less junk food maybe, ... and Mac Donald is not french even if we all love it :)

les gens qui ont repondus a ce sondage sont tres hypocrites ! Tout le monde sait que le francais sont de tres mauvais conducteurs, du coup il font tout pour donner l'impression d'être interesse par la securite routiere ( ce qui n'est pas du tout le cas en verite). Les francais ne peuvent pas s'empecher de voir dans leur voiture un prolongement stupide de leur penis ... ( c'est pasd de moi, c 'est de freud :))

Je ne sais pas ù tu as trouvé que les femmes avaient un blocage à ce sujet, et de toute façon ce n'est pas grĹce à un sondage que l'on saura ce que chacun fait tout seul dans son lit.

et moi j'ai aussi gagne si je suis le premier a te repondre :)

Food:

I actually read a book over the summer which mentioned obesity rates in various countries. The most probably cause for this is that in countries like France, where there are many fewer obese people, they just don't care as much about fat content and food in general. The French eat a lot of cheese, which is protein and balance it with some good carbohydrates, but don't think about it much. In the US, so many people are concerned about low-fat this and fat-free this that we don't get the nutrition we need and wind up stocking up on low-fat/high-carb meals and snacks and eat more and more often.

Wow...you guys (Frederique and Jerome) are much more open to discussing masturbation than most Americans. I was quite surprised with your remarks.

NON-MASTURBATION COMMENT (i.e. obesity)

To reply to Eric's comments about obesity:

While fast food is probably more common here in the US, it is too great a generalization to say that children are brought up eating junk food. Just like in France, most parents here give their children healthy food. Contrary to popular belief, we don't eat MacDonald's every day.

My hypothesis for the obesity problem is different than Gabrielle's. I believe it is a result of a lack of exercise among Americans that results from driving everywhere. For example, in France, my experience is that it is much more common to walk to shops or take public transportation. In many parts of the US (but not Boston), you have to drive everywhere. Literally you can do everything without ever walking farther then the parking lot to the front door. If you don't have some other type of exercise program, this can lead to obesity for some people. However, this won't happen if you have to carry your own groceries!

Also, many kids here spend too much time watching TV and playing video games and not enough time exercising.

So, I think it is not diet so much as a lack of exercise, although I'm sure diet plays a role too.

also a non-masturbation comment.

In contrast to Geoffrey's comment, i think Americans are pretty obsessed by fitness and beauty. People here go to the gym quite often and weight-lifting seems to be a popular exercise here. well,.. maybe if those people were not obese, they wouldn't do all these exercises i guess..

Anyway, i think the main reason goes back to the fact Americans eat a whole lot more processed food( like chocolate, chips, cakes, pizzas, fries) than the French. Besides, it may be the case that americans eat out more because their lifestyle is more hectic and so they don't have time to cook.

In the US, there's always food in any kind of social occasion (for example, food is always served in an information session in MIT, freshman are given so much free food during orientation week, etc). Food becomes a temptation and thus people can easily develop a wrong attitude towards food.

Comment on Eric's observations about the Internet in France:

When I was in Europe this summer, I noticed the great difference in people's attitude towards the Internet - in the US, all communication is primarily "cyber-commu nication", in Germany and Italy, where I visited, nobody used the web that extensively for personal e-mail... I discussed this with some friends and they said that the Internet is gaining momentum, but slower than in the States. I was wondering whether Europeans, especially the French, have a negative opinion, (? dislike), the Internet? I think Eric's comment sounded a little "anti-information technology"? Am I right? Or do you accept the advent of information technology? How old-fashioned are people?

Salut Gergana. N'écoute pas Eric (d'ailleurs c'est connu en plus la masturabtion rend sourd - aucun rapport je sais) il raconte n'importe quoi car il est aigri.

En france on a pas du tout la meme aproche des nouvelles technologies. Nous avons eu le MINITEL depuis que je suis tout petit. Et une part impressionnante des francais a un telephone portable. En ce qui concerne internet, nous souffrons que le monopole de france telecom sur les télécomunications n'a céssé que tres tard. De plus la TV par cable n'est répandue que dans certaines grandes villes. Sans parler du "sous-equipement" des francais en PC. En ce qui concerne le commerce electronique, je n'ai qu'un exemple à donner : Ma mère, qui pourtant est allergique aux ordinateurs, utilise depuis plus de 10ans le minitel pour commander les billets de train, ou divers choses a traver les catalogues de vente par correspondance. Dans ces conditions elle ne voit aucun avantage au commerce sur internet.

Salut Thomas :)

I am very curious about the Minitel. It is the first time that I hear about it. So, it is a mini-telephone-video device? How does it store information (for example, train tickets, schedule...)? Is it connected to some common database? Is it wireless or just like an ordinary phone? What's the difference between Minitel and a mobile phone? On a mobile phone you can also surf the Internet, send and receive e-mail.

Hello Gergana :) I'm very sorry for aswering You so late. The Minitel is just a Dumb terminal with a very slow 75/1200Bps modem built inside. It was introduced in 1986 I think. People use it to connect to a lot of services. But that's slow, has very poor graphix resolution and doesn't store any information by itself. But it is very usefull :) For example to sign on to the "concours des grandes ecoles", you NEED to use a minitel.

engage