Is Social Network Activity Associated with Lower Mortality?

Many studies have shown that people who are more socially active have better health outcomes, including longer lifespans. Is the same true of people who are socially active in online communities? Or, conversely, might the time people spend on online social networks lessen their face-to-face social activity, negatively affecting their health? To find out, a multi-institutional team matched 12 million Facebook users with nonusers in the same geographical area and linked them to mortality registry data, with 2 years of follow-up.

After controlling for age, sex, marital status, a proxy for race/ethnicity, and education level, Facebook users had significantly lower mortality from infections, diabetes, mental illness, dementia, ischemic heart dise…