WhatsApp is the world’s most popular mobile chat app, boasting more than 1.5 billion users worldwide. WhatsApp is well known for its ability to help stay in touch via messages and chats with wifi and 4G. And now researchers at the UK’s Edge Hill University have found an added bonus to WhatsApp’s easy connectivity.
Academics have discovered spending time on social media, specifically WhatsApp, can be good for our wellbeing.
The landmark research revealed the more time people spent on WhatsApp, the less lonely they were and the higher their self-esteem as a result of feeling closer to friends and family.
Dr Linda Kaye believes how WhatsApp positively impact on psychological wellbeing may surprise some.
She said: “There’s lots of debate about whether spending time on social media is bad for our well-being but we’ve found it might not be as bad as we think.
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“The more time people spent on WhatsApp, the more this related to them feeling close to their friends and family and they perceived these relationships to be good quality.
“As well as this, the more closely bonded these friendships were and the more people felt affiliated with their WhatsApp groups, the more this was related positively to their self-esteem and social competence.
“Group affiliation also meant that WhatsApp users were less lonely.
“It seems that using WhatsApp to connect with our close friends is favourable for aspects of our well-being.”
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The research used a sample of 200 WhatsApp users, 158 of who were women, along with 41 men.
The group, which had an average age of 24, found the average reported daily use of WhatsApp was around 55 minutes.
Dr Kaye added: “This research contributes to the ongoing debates in this area and provides specific evidence of the role of social factors, along with social support motivations for using communication technology.
“Specifically, the findings show how including factors relating to social bonding capital is highly pertinent within this field as a way of understanding how technology usage relates to psychosocial well-being.
“It gives rise to the notion that social technology such as WhatsApp may stimulate existing relationships and opportunities for communication, thereby enhancing aspects of the users’ positive well-being.”
The report appears to contradict several other studies that indicate our reliance on social media can have a detrimental effect on our mental health.
While social media platforms, such as WhatsApp, can have their benefits, using them too frequently can make you feel increasingly unhappy and isolated in the long term.
A perceived barrage of perfectly filtered photos which for example appear on Instagram has been thought to knock users’ self-esteem.
While obsessively checking for updates on Twitter before bed could contribute towards poor sleep quality.
And in February 2019, NHS England announced it would provide therapy sessions for people experiencing “unrealistic body” images as a result of frequent social media usage – a condition dubbed diabulimia.
The NHS said: “Patients will be coached to deal with unrealistic body images amid increasing concerns about the potential damage social media can have on young peoples’ mental health.”