The estimated reading time for this post is 3 minutes
If you want to live a long life, your doctor may recommend a healthy diet and plenty of exercise. But a new study suggests that using Facebook may help to extend our lives.
Researchers from Harvard, Yale, Northeastern and the University of California at San Diego released a study this week that found that people who use Facebook live longer than those who don’t. Face-to-face socialization had been found to extend life spans in a study from 1979, but this study shows that online relationships can have health benefits as well.
=> See, Online Friends: Can They Be “Real” Friends?
Findings of the Study
The study looked at the Facebook profiles of 12 million people and compared them with the California Department of Public Health vital records over a two-year period from 2011 to 2013. The researchers published their findings in an article titled “Online social integration is associated with reduced mortality risk” in the PNAS, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Not all Facebook usage was found to prolong life. Getting friend requests was found to reduce mortality, but sending friend requests was not. (So sending out a bunch of friend requests now won’t extend your life, but may extend the life of your new Facebook friends.)
Similarly, posting photos and being tagged in photos resulted in living longer, but sending messages on Facebook was not. Those who were tagged in many photos had the lowest mortality rates in the study.
The study found that moderate use of Facebook had the biggest benefits. “We find that people with more friends online are less likely to die than their disconnected counterparts.’
Some diseases had a significant reduction of mortality with Facebook users. Deaths from infections, diabetes, mental illness or dementia, ischemic heart disease, stroke, other cardiovascular diseases, liver disease, and homicide all were significantly lower for Facebook users than for nonusers.
Other causes of death did not show a relation to Facebook usage, including sexually transmitted diseases, several types of cancer, unintentional injuries, drug overdoses, and suicides.
A Word of Caution
The study did not examine any other social media sites to see if using them prolonged life. Also, two of the researchers worked at Facebook while the study was being conducted, though Facebook agreed that the study could be published regardless of the findings.
William Hobbes, one of the researchers who was a postdoctorate fellow at Northeastern University, and co-author of the study, worked at Facebook as a research intern in 2013. Hobbes said, “We had some things in writing that they couldn’t interfere with the publication of the research no matter what the result was. [We were] pretty confident that we were going to find this result.” TNW, Study: Moderate Facebook use could lead to longer lives
The researchers were careful to say that their results showed an associative relationship between using Facebook and living longer, not a causal one. “The most notable limitation involves the classic difficulty in distinguishing association from causation that limits all observational studies. Although we show many relationships between social media use and reduced mortality risk, we have not provided evidence of a causal relationship here.”
They didn’t point to a specific cause for the extension of life, but instead to the correlation of the behavior and the outcome. From the study, “Although this is an associational study, it may be an important step in understanding how, on a global scale, online social networks might be adapted to improve modern populations’ social and physical health.”
More Information
For more information, you can read the entire study at PNAS: Online social integration is associated with reduced mortality risk.
Your Thoughts
Do you believe that using Facebook can help extend your life? Will you be tagging more friends in photos now? Do you think using other social media sites can also lead to living longer?
Share your thoughts in the Comments section below!
* Facebook collage image (edited) courtesy of Geralt via Pixabay and Creative Commons
* Add as Friend image courtesy of Master isolated images via FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Voice of America Learning English
Want to learn English and tech at the same time? Check out my personal technology column at Voice of America Learning English. This week’s article is: New Computers from Microsoft and Apple.
So interesting. As someone who is new to FB I have experienced the pleasure of getting a friend request that has brightened my day. And yes, I will try to tag more folks in photos. Still, there is no substitute for in-person encounters.(And I sure do hope they are right that it will ward off dementia!)
Hi Penny, Excellent point. Wouldn’t it be great if using Facebook actually made you healthier? Something that’s fun could actually be good for you.
The study does make sense though. If in-person socialization is good for you, then it should follow that online socialization would be good for you as well.
Very interesting (will check out the posts you linked to, thanks!
It’s all about connection, isn’t it 😉
Lori
Hi Lori, Yes, it does make sense, doesn’t it? We have the ability now to stay in touch with our friends around the world in a very connected way, any time, day or night. We never need to feel alone if we have Facebook friends. You can see who is currently on Facebook and have a chat in Messenger any time. Such a very cool concept, especially if it makes us live longer!
That’s it exactly. You never have to feel alone.
😊
Lori
Hi Carolyn,
Long time. How are you?
While this ‘study’ is certainly super interesting, I do not personally believe a line of it.
The fact that the researchers already were confident of the outcome, were staff of FB and the ultimate reality that no other social network (except FB) was factored smells of something similar to fish 🙂
Well, for those that believe this, good. For me, I’ll rather laugh at the ‘study’ 🙂
Do make the day great!
Always,
Akaahan Terungwa
Hello Terungwa, Yes, the fact that two of the researchers worked at Facebook during the study certainly calls the results into question. But other researchers involved didn’t work there and came from the top universities in the US. Their research would have carried more weight if the researchers who worked at Facebook weren’t involved. But 12 million people is a very large population to study and the results were very similar to the 1979 study that showed face-to-face socialization prolonged life.
I also thought it was interesting that certain diseases showed a lower mortality rate while others didn’t. I hope this study is a springboard for future studies exploring the impact of social media on our collective health.
There are a number of things you can resolve to do in order to turn back your biological clock and live longer…
Best wishes
Masha
Hi Masha, Yes, there are and using Facebook may be one of them. Wouldn’t that be nice?
very interesting. I will try to tag more folks in photos. Still, there is no substitute for in-person encounters.
Hi Dhaval, Good point. It would be interesting to see the difference in longevity between those who socialize in person versus those who socialize on Facebook. I suspect you’re right, the in-person socialization would prove to be more beneficial.