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Can virtual friends save you from loneliness: scientists found out during an experiment
14.11.2024 19:21
Man is a social creature, and this means that without communication with his own kind, he has a hard time.
It is likely that the developers of social networks expected that communication in chats and messengers would protect a person from loneliness, but they missed the mark.
Cambridge University staff have experimentally confirmed that virtual communication does not save a person from loneliness. Especially teenagers.
The results of the work were published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.
Research by scientists
For their work, scientists selected 40 volunteers aged 16 to 19 years.
They had to complete a questionnaire before and after spending several hours alone with and without their smartphones.
The subjects were also left in complete isolation for four hours twice, in one case without means of communication, and in the other case they were allowed to use the Internet.
Along with this, the participants were shown images, periodically accompanied by a sharp, frightening sound.
At the same time, the devices measured the impact of stress factors on the body.
What was found out?
Even with access to social media, feelings of anxiety increased by an average of 70% even after the isolation phase ended.
This suggests that the need for human social interaction is so great that chatting cannot replace it.
This feature is especially acute in teenagers, scientists are sure.
