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Social networking and lack of contact could be bad for health

Britons could be jeopardising their health as they spend more time communicating through social networking websites rather than face to face, according to a psychologist.

  • By Martin Beckford, The Telegraph Group Limited
  • Published: 23:06 February 21, 2009
  • Gulf News

London: Britons could be jeopardising their health as they spend more time communicating through social networking websites rather than face to face, according to a psychologist.

Dr Aric Sigman said the amount of time people spent together had fallen by two thirds over the past two decades, from six hours a day in 1987 to just two in 2007. Meanwhile, the amount of time British citizens spent watching television, playing video games or visiting websites had doubled to eight hours a day, he said.

The decline in social interaction and increasing dependence on technology could be damaging to health.

Sigman, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, said in an article published in the journal Biologist that physical contact triggered the release of the hormone oxytocin, which was thought to lower the risk of heart disease. Those who had lots of friends were even said to be less susceptible to catching a cold or flu, he said.

"It's probably an evolutionary mechanism that recognises the benefits of us being together geographically."

 

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