The way we all are using our social media, especially WhatsApp, makes us all worry about the consequences. While some say we might grow a pair of horns due to excessive smartphone usage, a new study suggests something positive.
According to a study by the International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, usage of the popular and inevitable messaging app WhatsApp appears to have a positive effect on the psychology of the users.
The study was conducted on 200 WhatsApp users, of which 158 were female users and 42 were male users. It involved a questionnaire relating to factors such as WhatsApp use and motivations, online bonding, quality of relationships, group identity, and psychosocial outcomes — all the factors required to interpret the relationship between the usage of the Facebook-owned app and the psychological wellbeing users.
Each of the participants was using WhatsApp for around 55 minutes average everyday. It concludes that people who spend more time were less likely to be lonely and had higher levels of self-esteem.
“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,” said Dr. Linda Gaye who is a part of the research team.
As a reminder, another study, which was conducted by researchers at Oxford University, suggested that social media apps such as Facebook and Instagram do not induce low satisfaction in teenagers.
The aforementioned is another addition in the pros section of social media and might help us blaming the apps less. While I think it’s upon a person how he or she uses their social media, such studies can help us understand the positives more.
Also, this doesn’t mean that you should keep yourself glued to your phone all time. We should consider the fact that it only takes around 200 people into account. For a reference, the Facebook-owned messaging service has around 1.5 billion montly active users from different parts of the globe. Still, it could be a useful addition to the long-standing debate over the effects of social media.
Having said that, we should also not ignore the negatives and maintain some limit, which can be done with all the usage track tools these days such as Google’s Digital Wellbeing, Apple’s Screen Time, and more.
What are your thoughts on the same? Comment below!
