Think you’re logging into Facebook too much? Think again. It might actually prolong your life.
A University of California–San Diego study of 12 million Facebook users found that using Facebook was linked to a longer life when it’s used for building on and keeping up with your real-world social network, according to a study recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
A key finding? Facebook users appear to be nearly 12 percent less likely to die in a given year than their abstaining counterparts. Researchers caution this could have to do with social or economic differences in the user and non-user groups.
Researchers correlated California Facebook users to California Department of Public Health records, though they later stripped user identity data to maintain privacy. Researchers aggregated the data and examined users’ online presence over six months against people still living and people who died. All involved in the study were born between 1945 and 1989.
The data included number of Facebook friends in addition to wall posts and messages sent. The analysis also factored in details like age, gender and relationship status.
Another key finding? The larger the social network, the longer users lived. People with the smallest 10 percent of social networks didn’t live as long as those with average or large ones (top 50 to 30 percent). Facebook users who were the most social offline — identified by photos posted — lived the longest.
As for friend requests, those who accepted them the most lived the longest, though researchers were saddened to see that initiating the most didn’t offer any significant longevity boost. For what it’s worth, “likes” weren’t relevant in the study.
Researchers would like to see follow-up studies further exploring how online social interaction could safeguard health. For now, it seems that you can quash a little guilt the next (and next) time you fire up Facebook.
“We can’t say using Facebook is good for you, but I think the study provides evidence that it’s probably not bad for you,” study author James Folwer told Fox News.
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Use Facebook If You Want to Live Longer originally appeared on usnews.com
