Social Media Helps Reduce Stress in Women

A new study from Pew found that social media reduces stress in women – and we have to admit we’re a little bit surprised. Aren’t the trolls meant to be destroying our lives? And what about expensive retreats where the phones are confiscated and mindfulness is on the menu for breakfast, dinner and lunch? Is Instagram good for us?

1801 adults answered a pretty detailed questionnaire about how and how often they used social media. Alongside this Pew presented them with a PSS survey – a Perceived Stress Scale – and asked participants how often in the last month they had been upset by something happening unexpectedly ot something that felt out of their control.

In men it was found that there was no relation between stress and how frequently they used social media.

However the study found that?in women ?the use of some technologies is tied to lower stress?, especially in women who use Twitter throughout the day, email often and share photos in messages. These women scored 21% lower on the stress measurement than a woman who does not use such technologies.

Turns out Max in 2 Broke Girls got it wrong…

However, existing studies have found that social sharing of both positive and negative events can be associated with emotional well-being and that women tend to share their emotional experiences with a wider range of people than do men.? Sharing across social media ‘may provide women with a low-demand and easily accessible coping mechanism that is not experienced or taken advantage of by men.?

See, all that talking and sharing gifs of Chris Hemsworth winking is super good for the soul. If you need to chat we’ll be on all the devices.

Follow Jeanne Sutton on Twitter @jeannedesutun

LOVE this? Why not have IMAGE delivered directly to your door each month? Check out this month’s offer here.