Socializing Helps You Live Longer

Written by Darren Hewer

Live longer by socializing more. This was one of the results of recent university studies which found that “people with strong social networks live longer than those without. Among their conclusions was that social isolation is as much a risk factor for mortality as more frequently cited scourges like smoking and obesity.” (LA Times)

Whether online socialization provides similar benefits isn’t yet known. How similar are Facebook “friends” to real-life friends? For some people the two groups will comprise essentially the same people, while for others their online social networks are almost entirely separate. The author of the article comments regarding friendships forged purely online:

Life Lesson: Time management
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Do those relationships help us live longer? Will today’s 20-somethings ever age into the kind of 60- and 70-somethings who meet for a brisk morning hike and then throw their arms in the air? Or will they leave that to their avatars? Moreover, if the avatar enjoys a healthy social network of other avatars, will its user live longer?

On one hand I don’t think we should equate a Facebook friend with a real-life companion, while on the other I don’t want to short-change online friendships. Such virtual friendships can be shallow, but so can offline friendships. And if someone is struggling to find a community they can belong to within their local geographical area, they may just find it online instead. Having virtual community is certainly better than having none at all!

Although less glamorous these days than Facebook or Twitter, real-time chat has been a part of the Internet since its earliest days, going back to IRC (Internet Relay Chat) and ICQ real-time chat rooms. Java based chat rooms are also popular and found all over the web. We offer daily real-time Java based chat rooms on our own site. If you are feeling like you need to make some new meaningful social connections, or just want to try it out, click here to enter the chat area! If you’d rather talk with someone one-on-one about something more private, you’re always welcome to contact us privately and a mentor will respond to you personally via email.