Social media can be a lifeline

Original source: The Guardian, The Guardian

While social media has its pitfalls, it also has benefits that the headlines rarely focus on. Recent research from Sheffield University found that, overall, social media can make children feel happier about their friendships. With girls especially, the study found that more time on social networks had a positive effect on how they felt about their friends. 

Other research, from North Florida University, suggests that chatting online via apps such as  Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp allowed for more time in an environment that fostered feelings and expressions of empathy. This might be sharing a funny video to cheer up a friend or simply offering words of comfort.

The study concluded that, rather than primarily being a platform for self-promotion, Facebook was first and foremost a tool for making social connections.

There has been evidence, too, to suggest that social media can help combat feelings of isolation. Researchers in England and Italy trained 120 elderly and vulnerable people to use email, Skype, Facebook and other social media tools. Over a two-year follow-up period, they found participants were invigorated by the connections they could make with relatives, friends and people with shared interests.

It’s brought fun into my life again. It’s changed my life.

Margaret Keohane, a 70-year-old mother of six and grandmother of 23 from Somerset, said she had been amazed by the transformation she had noticed in herself since she had begun to use social media as part of the study. “It’s brought fun into my life again. It’s changed my life,” she said.