Social networking is not all bad

Apr 7, 2009 17:41 GMT  ·  By
Chatting with friends on Facebook also has advantages, helping fight stress and loneliness
   Chatting with friends on Facebook also has advantages, helping fight stress and loneliness

Spending too much time online chatting with virtual friends is bad for our health, experts have told us countless times, because it encourages isolation and leads to a lack of communication with our “real” friends. In this sense, Facebook has often been tagged as the biggest culprit, given its soaring popularity. Nevertheless, social networking is not all bad, as Glamour magazine points out, saying that it can actually help us relieve stress and, ultimately, stay in better health.

In an attempt to show that the coin always has two sides, both of which have to be taken into consideration, Sarah Jio from Glamour has set out to demonstrate that Facebook also has advantages, among which the most important would be that it helps us fight stress. Escapism is acknowledged as the best method to relax, be it in the form of looking at a picture, listening to music, reading a book or, to keep up with the world, chat with friends on Facebook.

In this sense, Facebook is modern escapism that helps us “zap stress,” as Jio tells. Chatting online can also make us feel like we’re not alone when we have a bad day. Given the huge number of users, we can surely find at least one person who can relate to whatever it is that we’re going through, which comes extremely in handy when we really have no one to talk to, or in those cases when we feel like nobody understands us, Jio points out.

Facebook is also “good, clean fun,” because it encourages us to reconnect with people with whom we haven’t spoken in years, like our high school or childhood friends. Catching up with them and giving way to memories is not only fun, Jio adds, but it will also make us laugh – and what better way to unwind after a stressful day or to relax than laughing? Moreover, laughter is said to boost the immune system, while also fighting wrinkles.

Last but not least, Facebook is also good for our wellbeing because it usually promotes a positive atmosphere. Here too, we can find people to relate to our status, people who are in an equally good mood, which can only lead to more fun and laughter. In the end, Jio sums up, Facebook can be extremely good for our health if we learn how to use it, that is, granted we understand no amount of social networking can replace real people and our relationship with them.