Twitter and Facebook are good for health

• April 29, 2024

Social networks and various technological advances are promoters of well-being, according to Carlos Beyer , researcher at the Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute (Cinvestav), since these allow a greater feeling of belonging and closeness to social groups.

The third day of the Week of Science and Innovation 2010, had as its main theme Healthy City , in which several national and foreign speakers presented different points of view about how science and technology contribute to better living conditions in cities.

The Cinvestav researcher talked with Excelsior about the impact of social networks on people's lives and how they are a factor that promotes well-being.

"Social networks like Twitter Y Facebook reduce the stress of people as it is a way to express their mood or feelings and that these are seen and shared by other people, "said Beyer.

In his presentation he explained that a couple of years ago, wellbeing was a concept that was outside of science because it obeyed subjective factors to measure or study it.

After the investigations carried out in several countries, it was determined that the economic factor it is not the main determinant for the well-being of people, although it can have an effect, especially in the less developed nations.

"Even if a lot of money is invested in countries like England or Switzerland, it will hardly increase the degree of well-being, however, this same investment in less developed countries could have a greater effect," he explained.

According to research, there are factors that favor more than money, welfare to the population, such as the Health , membership to groups and aspects that have to do with sexuality of people.

Beyer commented that to reach the levels of well-being, it is necessary to take care of some pleasures, according to his study, social networks attend to contextual pleasure, which allows to meet people in a pleasant environment.

"In the social networks , people are expressing disagreements in a group and this is an important change, since previously they were individual, so people felt lonelier, "he said.

The researcher commented that being immersed in social networks or having some gadget aspirational as smartphones or tablets, to some extent cause well-being as they satisfy people's wishes.

However, he said that they can become a double-edged sword, since by having greater access to all kinds of information, youth can also be more exposed to prostitution or drug trafficking networks.

Meanwhile, the participation of Richard Roberts , Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine 1993, explained about the importance of conducting research in biotechnology Y bioinformatics , with the purpose of predicting diseases.

"We are in the process of generating a large database from the human genome , this will allow us to anticipate many diseases, "said Roberts.

Finally, the speakers agreed that more than a large investment in Health , education , safety and the other items, great ideas are needed to carry out massive projects that meet the needs of people and encourage greater welfare in society .

Video Medicine: How Facebook And Twitter Impact Your Mental Health (April 2024).