How much time do you spend on social media?
Social media sites which are built to help people connect are actually having the opposite effect.
According to psychologists, the more time people spend on sites such as Facebook and Twitter, the more likely they will feel cut off from the world.
As well as this US researchers have discovered those who spend more than two hours online each day are likely to feel more isolated.
A total of 1,787 adults aged 19 to 32 were questioned about their use of the 11 most popular social media sites at the time the research was conducted in 2014, these were:
– Facebook
– YouTube
– Twitter
– Google Plus
– Instagram
– Snapchat
– Reddit
– Tumblr
– Pinterest
– Vine
– LinkedIn
Those who visited these sites more than 58 times were three times more likely to experience loneliness than those who went online just nine times a week.
Lead scientist Professor Brian Primack, from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, said: “We are inherently social creatures, but modern life tends to compartmentalise us instead of bringing us together,”
“While it may seem that social media presents opportunities to fill that social void, I think this study suggests that it may not be the solution people were hoping for.”
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