26 December 2012
Active social media users are more likely to eat unhealthy snacks than those who don’t go online regularly.
This was the observation of a team of scientists from Columbia University and the University of Pittsburgh, who noted that people who use Facebook regularly for social interaction had low levels of self-control.
“Using online social networks can have a positive effect on self-esteem and wellbeing,” the authors of the report noted in the Journal of Consumer Research.
“However, these increased feelings of self-worth can have a detrimental effect on behaviour. Because consumers care about the image they present to close friends, social network use enhances self-esteem in users who are focused on close friends while browsing their social network.”
In experiments, the researchers stated that spending too much time on social networks has the ability to really change the way people act and think and not necessarily for the better.
Posted by Philip Briggs
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