Can Social Networking Sites Raise Risk Of Health Problems?

When I read an article from PsyBlog, a particular link caught my attention, I was furious, and that link (Read Here) caught me off guard since I am an avid fan and user of Facebook and other Social Networks such as Friendster, Twitter, MySpace and more. Continuous use of these social networks is said to increase risk of health problems, but the question is how?

How?

• Social networking sites such as Facebook could raise your risk of serious health problems by reducing levels of face-to-face contact, a doctor claims.

• Emailing people rather than meeting up with them may have wide-ranging biological effects, said psychologist Dr Aric Sigman.

• Increased isolation could alter the way genes work and upset immune responses, hormone levels and the function of arteries. It could also impair mental performance.

• This could increase the risk of problems as serious as cancer, strokes, heart disease and dementia, Dr Sigman says in Biologist, the journal of the Institute of Biology.

• Social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook allow people to keep in touch with friends over the web.

• But even though they are designed to bring people together, Dr Sigman said they were actually playing a significant role in people becoming more isolated.

• Interacting 'in person' had effects on the body not seen when writing emails, Dr Sigman claimed. Levels of hormones such as the 'cuddle chemical' oxytocin, which promotes bonding, altered according to whether people were in close contact or not.

• Some genes, including ones involved with the immune system and responses to stress, acted differently according to how much social interaction a person had with others.

Loneliness?

In Sigman's paper (PDF) he defined loneliness as:

being cited as causing low-grade peripheral inflammation which, in turn, is linked to inflammatory diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease,
and autoimmune disorders (e.g. rheumatoid arthritis, lupus).

Lack of social connection or loneliness is also associated with increased risk of
cardiovascular disease. The neuropeptide oxytocin is increasingly considered the
‘hormone of affiliation’, released in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid in response to everyday aspects of human interaction such as somatosensory stimulation, hugging, touch, warm temperature – and it is also involved in feelings of trust and generosity.

So my piece of advice guys is to connect with people on face-to-face bases than just be well connected over the internet, as we all know internet use have psychological downsides, than just day-to-day benefits.

Drag To Add Or Dismiss Twitter Followers In No Time

Tweet Sum is a  Twitter follower management similar to Twitter Karma, that enables you to unfollow tweeps you do not want to follow, and follow tweeps you want to follow. However, Tweet Sum is more fashionable and easier to use . As you can see, you may easily follow tweeps by dragging them to either the Followed Category (tweeps you are following) and Meh Category (tweeps you don't want to follow). Its easy to log in, just use your Twitter username and the password.

Related Post:

Whack Tweeps Who Don’t Reciprocate

Analyze Your Tweets With Twitter Effect

Twitter Effect is a Twitter tool that lets you analyze which tweets made you gain followers and which tweets made you lose followers.  Just visit Twitter Effect website and log in your Twitter username (password is not required). Through  your last 200 updates, you can get information of your follower count changes.

Twitter is a great way to keep in contact, distribute news and generally tell people what you are up to. The success of Twitter users is generally measured in the amount of people that follow your updates.

You get information on your Twitter profile as to how many people follow you and you get notified when someone follows you. However, there is no notification when someone stops following you and you generally don’t have any insight into when people follow or leave you.

This is where the TweetEffect comes in - simply enter your twitter name and we analyze your 200 latest updates and flag those up that made people follow or leave you.

Here is mine:

In my last 200 updates, I had no changes in my follower numbers. I've got loyal followers. That's great news!

Turning Twitter Into A Feed (Tweet) Reader

If Google Reader is capable of marking Read and Unread to your subscribed feeds, a new Twitter client called TwitteReader is also capable of marking Read and Unread to your friend's Twitter updates. You may also star items that are added to your favorite tweets.

TwitteReader is simple unlike Google Reader, which has advanced features such a sidebar containing your favorite blogsites, and on the main window are the entries from these websites. Google Reader is capable of item sharing such as this one (my  shared items). However, TwitteReader also  has great features, like:

1. Offline marking and unmarking read messages


2. Page system


3. Shortcut keys r-refresh, k-up and j-down


4. No signup required


5. Update Twitter (send messages) and reply to users


6. Delete updates


7. Favorite and unfavorite messages


8. Message parser


9. Messages auto-reload each 5 minutes

Take a look at my TwitteReader:

Addons include:

1. marking system was remade. It is now based on offline marking (and unmarking) and on refresh or on leave of the "read" page, it will store the marks online. Much faster user interface and only one AJAX communication with the server


2. when users delete messages, the system now detects them and delete their record on the database as well


3. page system added. Each page has its own unread counter


4. code reviewed and commented. Stable beta version 0.23 zipped and shared


5. 'r' key, shortcut for refresh button added


6. signup isn't required anymore. Twitter users login with their username and password and start reading right away


7. update Twitter over TwitteReader is now available. Just like in Twitter, you have your 140 characters to write and the update button


8. unique link to message added to the options bar


9. favorite status icon added. Soon editable


10. reply icon added. Soon available


11. number of characters left reset after submited update


12. reply feature working


13. @username links bug fixed


14. create/remove favorite now available


15. works on smaller screens now. Key interface was getting scroller to jump around


16. remember username featu re added. Also, if you have save passwords on your browser, when username is inserted, it can fill in your password automatically and if there is a username a nd password it auto-logins


17. delete (own) messages now available


18. message parser updated. Well parsed urls and @username links


19. after some feedback I've set mysql_real_escape_string() to all comunication variables


20. install instructions for self hosting released


21. shortcuts now working on IE (7 at least)


22. shortcuts (keys) interface interaction optimized. Some bugs fixed

To sum it all up, TwitteReader is an extension to Twitter. Read More.