A new study has come out that examined how the use of Facebook impacts our health—that’s right, our physical health. Not surprising, the results show a complicated result—its use correlates to users living longer—but this is when it serves the purpose of enhancing and maintaining social ties. That part makes sense and is consistent with a lot of previous research on the importance of social connections to good health and longevity.
UC San Diego, collaborating with colleagues at Facebook and Yale conducted the research that studied 12 million Facebook users born between 1945 and 1989 for over six months and found an association (not causation) between using Facebook and living longer. It can be found in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
However, how folks use Facebook makes a difference. It is only beneficial when the use is moderate and users also have offline interactions and connections. When a user spends a great deal of time online and has few if any offline relationships—Facebook use is found to be negative. Fortunately the number of people who are only connected online is a very small percentage of users overall.
In any given year, users are 12 percent less likely to die than non-users. Researchers did stipulate that socioeconomics could play a role here and further research could help pinpoint if it does. Those with large social networks live the longest, and this is consistent with other longevity studies that show those with largest social networks are happier and healthier. Extroverts have an edge overall, to be sure. This was also shown in the higher longevity of those who accepted the most friendship requests—they do better than those who turn down more people. Which are you?
What is interesting about this study to someone like myself, a relationship coach—is that I am very acquainted with the negative ways Facebook can harm relationships. I’d like to see a study on that one.
Want to read the study in detail? Go to
