A new survey revealed that women who regularly use social media are less stressed than those who rarely go online.
Researchers at Rutgers University in New Jersey and the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C. conducted phone surveys of 1,801 American adults between August and September 2013. The participants answered 10 questions that the team used to calculate their stress levels. Their responses were then compared to their technology use and awareness of their friends' life events through social media.
Initial analysis showed that there is no significant difference in the number of men and women who use social media, cell phones or the internet.
After comparing the stress levels and social media use of the participants, the researchers found that women who log in to Twitter several times a day, use their email accounts at least 25 times a day or share photos have 21 percent lower stress levels than those who do not use the internet frequently or at all.
The researchers concluded that social media does not stress people out, which contradicts the previous assumption.
"What we found was a big surprise: The use of technology is not associated with stress," Lee Rainie, director of Pew Internet, told the Wall Street Journal.
The survey also identified certain life events that increase stress levels for men and women. For instance, women feel more stressed when they read about traumatic life events involving their close friends (i.e. illnesses or death). Men, on the other hand, also experience increased stress, but in much different scenarios, such as if their friends were to get arrested or if they were to lose their job.
The findings provided evidence that stress is not one of the negative things that social media can do to a person. Earlier studies have linked social media use to narcissist personality disorder, self-destructive behavior and anxiety.
"This is the ultimate story of technology. There are enormous benefits that come from it, and sometimes there are really significant social costs," Rainie told Live Science. "It's never either/or, never good or bad entirely."
Full details of the survey results can be read here.
