Heena Sharma Blog

If you often share details of your personal life on social media , include your better half in the post to counter its negative effects on your romantic relationship , a study suggests. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Kansas (KU) in the US also found that sharing information online can do more harm to romantic relationships than good. The study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, is the first of its kind to systematically examine how different circumstances can affect whether a partner perceives their loved one's online disclosure to be positive or negative. "Prior research has shown that self-disclosure positively affects offline relationships," said Juwon Lee, a post-doctoral researcher at Carnegie Mellon University. "We wanted to explore whether that would remain the case in an online context, where users can share detailed information with large audiences -- a phenomenon that typically would not be possible in person,...

Adults who have negative experiences on social media tend to report loneliness, a recent study suggests. According to the research, positive interactions on social media are not making young adults feel more connected, whereas negative experiences increase the likelihood of them reporting loneliness . "Social media is, seemingly, about connecting people. So it is surprising and interesting that our investigations reveal social media being linked to loneliness," said lead author Brian Primack. According to Primack, perceived social isolation, which is a synonym for loneliness, is associated with poor health outcomes, such as high blood pressure, heart disease and depression. Because social media is so pervasive, it is critically important that we understand why this is happening and how we can help people navigate social media without as many negative consequences. As part of the study, Primack and his team surveyed 1,178 West Virginia University studen...

Happiness can prolong life in older adults, say scientists including one of Indian origin.The study, published in the journal Age and Ageing, used data for 4,478 participants of a survey to look at the association between happiness, assessed in the National News : Happiness can prolong life in older adults, say scientists including one of Indian origin. The study, published in the journal Age and Ageing, used data for 4,478 participants of a survey to look at the association between happiness, assessed in the year 2009, and subsequent likelihood of dying due to any cause, until December 31, 2015. "The findings indicate that even small increments in happiness may be beneficial to older people's longevity," said Rahul Malhotra, assistant professor at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore. "Therefore individual-level activities as well as government policies and programmes that maintain or improve happiness or psychological well-being may contrib...