People over 50 should spend more time on the Internet

Study suggests that people over 50 are 15% healthier if they use the Internet. Being online brings benefits to mental health and allows access to information.

One published on November 18th in Nature suggests that time spent online can help adults over 50 to reduce symptoms of depression by about 9%.

Researchers analyzed more than 87,500 adults from 23 different countries and concluded that those who used the Internet had 15% better overall health than those who did not use it.

“For older people, who often face mobility and activity restrictions, using the Internet offers a valuable opportunity and a alternative for access health-related informationand provides an important channel for social connections and online entertainment”, justifies the study.

Furthermore, the researchers continue, “by overcoming social and spatial barriers, the use of the Internet can facilitate connections with family and friends and expand social connections between adults middle-aged and older.”

As highlighted by , adults in the USA, the United Kingdom and China were those who recorded the most positive impacts. You Benefits were also strong for users over 65who were not married and had lower levels of social contact.

But, the researchers emphasize, it is not necessary to use the Internet so much to see positive results quickly: some users They were only online about once a week and their health was already better.

Even so, in the countries where the most positive impacts were recorded, it was who spent more time online who, in general, had better well-being.

“These benefits were consistent across countrieshighlighting the potential of the Internet as a tool to improve mental health globally,” he said Qingpeng Zhang, co-author of the study.

Still, the director of the Center for Studies on Loneliness, Andrea Wigfieldwarns that “we should not see all Internet use as a homogeneous impact. I like to see the Internet as a tool which, if used appropriately and in moderation, can help connect people to others, but cannot replace the face-to-face interaction that is so important for reducing loneliness.”

“Loneliness is a natural human emotion—a feeling of belonging to places and spaces during periods of transition it can be a source of comfort to reduce feelings of loneliness”, he concludes.