I wrote yesterday about some research highlighting the possible health benefits of social media, with the general gist being that by facilitating communication with friends and family, it was helping rather than harming our mental health.

A similar finding has emerged from a second study from the UK’s Edge Hill University, which found that using social messaging service WhatsApp can boost our wellbeing.

The analysis highlighted a correlation between the time people spent on WhatsApp, and both their loneliness levels, which were lower, and their self-esteem, which was higher.  The results were a consequence of feeling closer to family and friends.

“There’s lots of debate about whether spending time on social media is bad for our well-being but we’ve found it might not be as bad as we think,” the authors explain.  “The more time people spent on WhatsApp, the more this related to them feeling close to their friends and family and they perceived these relationships to be good quality.”

Connectivity

The greater the time people spent on WhatsApp was linked with the quality of the relationships they had with their friends and relatives, with this quality then linked to the mental health boost they received.  What was perhaps equally interesting is that greater WhatsApp use was also linked with higher levels of social competence, which had a knocn-on effect on their self-esteem.

“This research contributes to the ongoing debates in this area and provides specific evidence of the role of social factors, along with social support motivations for using communication technology,” the authors explain.  “Specifically, the findings show how including factors relating to social bonding capital is highly pertinent within this field as a way of understanding how technology usage relates to psychosocial well-being.”

While it’s unlikely that WhatsApp will ever be prescribed by doctors, it does nonetheless provide interesting insights into how people, and especially older people, can stave off isolation and retain connections to friends and family.