Health

Could seeing friends in person be better for your health than texting them?

By Mallika Marshall, MD

May 29, 2024 / 5:37 PM EDT / CBS Boston

Seeing friends face-to-face leads to greater well-being, study says

BOSTON - A new study finds that seeing your friends face-to-face promotes greater well-being than texting them.

Canadian researchers looked at 13,000 adults over 50 and calculated their "friendship score" based on factors such as how many friends they had and how often they made contact with them. They found that face-to-face meetings at least once a week were associated with better physical and mental health compared to calling or texting.

They say seeing friends in person, and looking them directly in the eye, can allow your brains to sync which can improve communication and promote empathy in a way that texting and emailing can't.

Health

Mallika Marshall, MD

Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School.

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