People that suffer from inflammation often spend more time scrolling through social media in hopes of interacting with family and friends, a latest study revealed this week.
When the body slows all the way down to heal inflammation and other illnesses, people are inclined to spend more time their phone, in line with Dr. David S. Lee, an assistant professor of communication on the University of Buffalo and an writer of the study published within the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity.
“Inflammation is often followed by behaviors and symptoms related to sickness that can assist the body heal,” Lee said in a press release.
“Humans are social beings, and once we’re sick or injured, it might be adaptive for us to approach others who can provide social support and care.”
Lee learned that those that feel under the weather found themselves direct messaging and posting to friends’ pages more often than once they’re healthy.
“Interestingly, inflammation didn’t lead people to make use of social media for other purposes — for instance, entertainment purposes like watching funny videos,” he added.
The primary-of-its-kind study, which analyzed 1,800 college- and middle-aged participants, indicated that C-reactive protein (CRP) can influence social media usage amongst each age groups. CRP is made within the liver and is produced because the body’s response to inflammation.
It found that the middle-aged group’s social media interaction didn’t change much, as they typically use such platforms “lower than once a day,” despite the growing variety of this age group engaging on them.
Researchers learned that “inflammation may contribute to increased social media use” while studying college-age participants.
Lee is hoping to make use of the study to assist “teach people to make use of social media” with the aim of connecting with others.
“Following this line of research can further inform our understanding in regards to the potential links between the body and every day social behavior,” he said.
“For some people, the connection between social media use and inflammation could also be a positive feedback loop, a cycle where more social media use results in more inflammation, and more inflammation then results in more social media use.”
