This social media platform could actually help you live longer.
This social media platform could actually help you live longer.
Many love to debate the effects of social media, including mediums like Facebook, grappling with the good and bad effects of these technology platforms. The good usually involves making new connections with people, social awareness and information exchange, while the bad includes disengagement from the real world, anti-social behaviour, anxiety, and cyber bullying. But now science has found a game-changing benefit of Facebook – it can, in fact, extend one’s life expectancy. (We thank Mark Zuckerberg in advance!)
According to new research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, it was found that the average Facebook user is around 12 per cent less likely to die than someone who doesn’t use the social media platform. This study was based on 12 million social media profiles made available by Facebook as well as records from the California Department of Health.
For years now, researchers have found that people with stronger social networks live longer, but that was only evident in the offline world. True enough, in this recent study led by University of California San Diego researchers William Hobbs and James Fowler, in collaboration with colleagues at Facebook and Yale University, it was found that the size of one’s social network (meaning the number of friends) was a defining variable.
The study revealed that people with average or large social networks lived longer than those in the lowest 10 per cent. This finding now draws the same conclusion in the online world.
Facebook users who accepted the most number of friend requests also proved to live the longest. However, the number of friend requests sent did not make a difference. This does not mean that being a full-time Facebook hermit will necessarily lead to a longer lifespan.
Another finding from the same study showed that people on Facebook with the highest levels of offline social integration – measured by posting photos, which suggests real-world social activity – had more longevity than those who only engaged in online-only behaviour, such as scrolling through your news feed or liking someone’s posts. Thus, it shows that this mortality perk can only arise if your Facebook activity serves to maintain and improve your real-world relationships.
PHOTO 123RF.COM.
