I’m not a doctor nor do I play one on TV but hear me out.
While reading about health and healthy living I stumbled upon a Univeristy of North Carolina study that found people with friends, family and community involvement were 50 percent less likely to die early than those with no social life. Also, Socially-connected people live an average of 3.7 years longer, according to the report which claimed the impact of friends was comparable to the effects of quitting smoking.
Now I don’t think Facebook is a medical breakthru but it’s interesting the quick growth of social sites like Facebook and Twitter could actually positively effect someone’s life. Crazy, right?
I’m very active on Facebook and Twitter and I love being able to keep up to date with friends and family. I smile a lot during the day from the silly pictures, funny status updates and the random “hey!”. Granted we all have our pet peeves that can often annoy- the difference is that on Facebook you can ‘hide’ the annoying parts. If you haven’t done that yet… do it.
One other piece to consider, when people talk about a “social life” they don’t usually mean a ‘digital friend’. However, I’d argue that being connected like my example above is a way of ‘connection’ to others. Maybe you don’t get the 3.7 extra years from Facebook- maybe 2.5 more years???
What do you think? It’s an interesting subject to think about and the possibility that Facebook can actually extend your life? Well who knows if there will ever be proof but for now… we’ll take it.
