Having friends is known to be good for our psychological well-being and overall health, but a new study suggests it might not just be offline relationships that contribute to good health. Online social networks can be beneficial – if we use them correctly, that is.
In our increasingly globalized world, more and more people are living away from their family and birthplace. This sometimes leads to the breaking of social ties and increasing feelings of loneliness and isolation.
The benefits of having close friends have been linked to longevity as early as the late 1970s. A 9-year long study then showed that people with no social and community ties were up to 2.8 times more likely to die prematurely than those with extensive social connections.
Since then, similar studies have been carried out bearing similar results.
In fact, a meta-analysis of over 148 studies revealed that strong social ties improve chances of survival by as much as 50%. The research also shows that loneliness is a mortality risk factor as significant as smoking and alcohol consumption.
A new study suggests that using Facebook increases longevity. However, this is only the case when Facebook is used to maintain and improve real-life social connections, according to the authors.
The study looked at 12 million Facebook users and was led by University of California-San Diego researchers William Hobbs and James Fowler.
The findings confirm what has been known to be true for the offline world.
“Happily, for almost all Facebook users, what we found is [a correlation between] balanced use and a lower risk of mortality,” says senior author James Fowler.
The number of Facebook “likes” has not been shown to affect longevity in any way.
The results of the study have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, in which the researchers matched California Facebook users with vital records from the California Department of Public Health.
They studied people born between 1945 and 1989, and monitored their online activity over a period of 6 months. The researchers compared the activity of those still living with those who had died.
The first significant finding is that Facebook users live longer than those who are not online. In a given year, the average Facebook user is approximately 12% less likely to die than someone who does not use the networking site.
Users with average or large social networks – that is, in the top 50 to 30 percent – lived longer than those in the lowest 10%. This result is in line with previous studies of offline relationships and longevity.
The researchers also considered the number of friends, photos, status updates, wall posts, and messages sent to see if those who were more active lived longer. Offline social activity was considered to be higher if users posted more photos of face-to-face social activity.
The team found that Facebook users with the highest levels of offline social activity also have the highest longevity.
Moderate levels of online-only activity, such as writing posts and messages, were associated with the lowest levels of mortality.
“Interacting online seems to be healthy when the online activity is moderate and complements interactions offline. It is only on the extreme end, spending a lot of time online with little evidence of being connected to people otherwise, that we see a negative association.”
William Hobbes, lead author
The research also indicated that those who accepted the most friendship requests lived the longest.
This could mean that proactively seeking friendships is not necessarily beneficial to one’s health. So public health initiatives prompting people to go out and make more friends might be misguided.
The researchers point out that their findings, while significant, are not enough for devising new policies or government recommendations. They also emphasize that their findings simply indicate a correlation and should not be interpreted as causation.
Hobbs and Fowler would like their study to inspire many other similar studies, so that eventually we have enough data to inform the population of new guidelines.
“What happens on Facebook and other social networks is very likely important,” Fowler says. “But what we can’t do at this time is give either individual or larger policy recommendations based on this first work.”
More and more people are living alone, and people across the globe report increasing feelings of loneliness.
In Great Britain, in 2014, 1 in 10 people reported not having a single close friend.
In the United States, according to a 2010 study carried out by the American Association of Retired Persons, 43% of Americans aged 45-49 reported feeling lonely on a regular basis.
Studies such as the one led by Hobbes and Fowler are important because they add the online medium to the wider picture of social isolation and the health benefits of social relationships.
This could mean that in the larger context of increasing isolation, social media, if used in moderation, can provide some much-needed comfort.
Kuwa na marafiki ni muhimu kwa afya yako ya jumla, lakini utafiti mpya unaonyesha kuwa sio tu mahusiano ya nje ya mtandao yanayochangia afya yako. Mitandao ya kijamii mtandaoni inaweza kuwa na manufaa <unk> ikiwa tuita kutumia kwa usahihi, ambayo ni. Katika ulimwengu wetu unaoendelea kuwa wa kimataifa, watu wengi zaidi na zaidi wanaishi mbali na familia yao na mahali pa kuzaliwa. Nyakati nyingine hilo husababisha kuvunjika kwa mahusiano ya kijamii na kuongezeka kwa hisia za upweke na kujitenga. Faida za kuwa na marafiki wa karibu zimeunganishwa na urefu wa maisha mapema miaka ya 1970. Utafiti uliofanywa kwa miaka tisa ulionyesha kuwa watu wasio na uhusiano wa kijamii na wa kijamii walikuwa na uwezekano wa kufa mapema mara 2.8 kuliko wale walio na uhusiano wa kijamii. Tangu wakati huo, uchunguzi kama huo umefanywa na umepata matokeo kama hayo. Uchunguzi wa utafiti uliofanywa katika miaka ya hivi karibuni unaonyesha kwamba uhusiano wa karibu na watu unaongeza uwezekano wa kuishi kwa asilimia 50. Utafiti huo pia unaonyesha kwamba upweke ni jambo linaloweza kusababisha vifo kama vile kuvuta sigareti na kunywa pombe. Utafiti mpya unaonyesha kuwa kutumia Facebook huongeza maisha ya muda mrefu. Hata hivyo, hii ni kesi tu wakati Facebook ni kutumika kudumisha na kuboresha uhusiano wa kijamii wa maisha halisi, kulingana na waandishi. Utafiti huo ulifanyika kwa watumiaji milioni 12 wa Facebook na uliongozwa na watafiti wa Chuo Kikuu cha California huko San Diego William Hobbes na James Fowler. Matokeo hayo yanathibitisha kile ambacho kimejulikana kuwa kweli kwa ulimwengu wa nje ya mtandao. "Kwa furaha, kwa karibu watumiaji wote wa Facebook, kile tulichogundua ni [uhusiano kati ya] matumizi yenye usawa na hatari ya chini ya vifo", anasema mwandishi mwandamizi James Fowler. Idadi ya "upendezi" wa Facebook haijaonyeshwa kuathiri urefu wa maisha kwa njia yoyote. Uchunguzi huo ulichapishwa katika jarida la Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, ambapo watafiti walipima watumiaji wa Facebook wa California na rekodi muhimu kutoka kwa Idara ya Afya ya Umma ya California. Watafiti walichunguza watu waliozaliwa kati ya 1945 na 1989 na kufuatilia shughuli zao mtandaoni kwa kipindi cha miezi sita. Watafiti hao walilinganisha utendaji wa wale waliokuwa wangali hai na wa wale waliokuwa wamekufa. Utafiti huo unaonyesha kuwa watumiaji wa Facebook wanaishi muda mrefu kuliko wale ambao hawajaingia mtandaoni. Kwa mfano, katika mwaka mmoja, watumiaji wa Facebook wana uwezekano mdogo wa kufa kwa asilimia 12 kuliko wale ambao hawatumii mtandao huo. Watumiaji wenye mitandao ya kijamii ya wastani au kubwa - yaani, katika asilimia 50 hadi 30 ya juu - waliishi kwa muda mrefu kuliko wale katika asilimia 10 ya chini. Matokeo haya yanalingana na masomo ya awali ya mahusiano ya nje ya mtandao na urefu wa maisha. Watafiti walichunguza idadi ya marafiki, picha, status updates, wall posts, na ujumbe uliotumwa ili kuona kama wale waliokuwa na shughuli nyingi zaidi waliishi kwa muda mrefu. Shughuli za kijamii za nje ya mtandao zilionwa kuwa za juu ikiwa watumiaji walichapisha picha zaidi za shughuli za kijamii za uso kwa uso. Timu hiyo iligundua kuwa watumiaji wa Facebook walio na viwango vya juu zaidi vya shughuli za kijamii za nje ya mtandao pia wana urefu wa maisha wa juu zaidi. Kiwango cha wastani cha shughuli za mtandaoni tu, kama vile kuandika machapisho na ujumbe, kilihusishwa na viwango vya chini zaidi vya vifo. <unk> Kuingiliana mtandaoni inaonekana kuwa na afya wakati shughuli mtandaoni ni wastani na kukamilisha maingiliano nje ya mtandao. "Hii ni kwa sababu ya kutumia muda mwingi mtandaoni na hakuna ushahidi wa kuwa na uhusiano na watu, ""William Hobbes, mwandishi mkuu wa utafiti huo, alisema, ""Hii ni kwa sababu ya kutumia muda mwingi mtandaoni na hakuna ushahidi wa kuwa na uhusiano na watu.""" Hilo laweza kumaanisha kwamba kutafuta urafiki kwa bidii si jambo lenye manufaa kwa afya ya mtu. Kwa hivyo, mipango ya afya ya umma inayowasukuma watu kwenda nje na kupata marafiki zaidi inaweza kuwa na mwelekeo mbaya. Watafiti hao wanasema kwamba matokeo ya utafiti huo, ingawa ni muhimu, hayatoshi kutokeza sera mpya au mapendekezo ya serikali. Pia wanasisitiza kwamba matokeo yao yanaonyesha tu uhusiano na hayapaswi kutafsiriwa kuwa sababu. Hobbs na Fowler wanataka utafiti wao kuchochea masomo mengine mengi kama hayo, ili hatimaye tuwe na data ya kutosha kuwajulisha watu wa miongozo mpya. "Kile kinachotokea kwenye Facebook na mitandao mingine ya kijamii ni muhimu sana", Fowler anasema. "Lakini kile ambacho hatuwezi kufanya kwa wakati huu ni kutoa mapendekezo ya sera ya mtu binafsi au kubwa kulingana na kazi hii ya kwanza. " Watu zaidi na zaidi wanaishi peke yao, na watu kote ulimwenguni wanaripoti kuongezeka kwa hisia za upweke. Katika Uingereza, mwaka wa 2014, mtu mmoja kati ya watu kumi alisema kwamba hana rafiki wa karibu. Kulingana na utafiti uliofanywa na Shirika la Wenyeji wa Pensheni la Marekani, asilimia 43 ya watu wenye umri wa miaka 45 hadi 49 nchini Marekani wanahisi upweke mara kwa mara. "Hawa ni baadhi ya utafiti uliofanywa na Hobbes na Fowler, ambao unaonyesha kwamba ""mtazamo wa kijamii wa watu ni muhimu kwa afya.""" Hii inaweza kumaanisha kwamba katika muktadha mkubwa wa kuongezeka kwa kutengwa, media ya kijamii, ikiwa inatumiwa kwa kiasi, inaweza kutoa faraja inayohitajika sana.