Experts Say People Who Use Facebook Live Longer, So Post Your Heart Out

If you're an aunt who posts a lot of inspirational quotes or comments on your family's pictures in the club like, "Oh, she takes after me! Who is that cute man you're with! Tell him you learned all your moves from your auntie," this post is a joke!

The title is just a little prank so hit that back button right now, missy!

OK, now that those aunts are gone and hopefully not posting any pictures of my youth and tagging me...

A new study has linked social networking with a longer life.

The study involved 12 million Facebook users and found that those who used the site to maintain and grow their real-world social ties tended to live longer.

So, no. Posting political comments probably doesn't help your heart, and also you're just screaming into the internet abyss.

The study was led by University of California San Diego researchers William Hobbs and James Fowler, they collaborated with Facebook and Yale.

Their study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Hobbs said,

Interacting online seems to be healthy when the online activity is moderate and complements interactions offline.

So, basically all those hours I spent on MySpace, Facebook and AIM talking to my chums are going to ensure that I live forever.

Or they will cause my certain death... He continued,

It is only on the extreme end, spending a lot of time online with little evidence of being connected to people otherwise, that we see a negative association.

Basically, it means people who have strong social ties live longer, and social networking helps facilitate that.

Fowler added,

Happily, for almost all Facebook users, what we found is balanced use and a lower risk of mortality.

The study used people of similar ages and gender, all born between 1945 and 1989. It then compared who was still alive to those who died in the past six months.

The result? People on Facebook do live longer.

People who accept more friendships also live the longest, so go ahead and add that person you've never met who promises to send you $12 million dollars if you transfer some money to Nigeria right now.

Citations: Does Facebook make you live LONGER? Social networking is linked with a prolonged life (and it doesn't matter how many 'likes' you get) (Daily Mail)