The Psychological Health Benefits of Online Friendships in Today’s World

Running head: ONLINE FRIENDSHIPS AND MENTAL HEALTH
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH BENEFITS OF ONLINE FRIENDSHIPS IN
TODAY’S WORLD
Lovin Shakoori
Word Count: 1250

1ONLINE FRIENDSHIPS AND MENTAL HEALTH
The idea of friendship transformed into its nature and shape due to technological
evolution over the past years. These transformations are ever changing and unavoidable,
despite one’s acceptance. The rapid alterations to people's lives promote acts that involve
using social media and engaging in online social interactions; this can be due to peer
pressure or an individual's need to fit in the society. However, these changes are
deleterious in terms of their effects on emotional and social health. The aim of this essay
is to examine the impact of online friendships on people’s mental health as well as social
wellbeing.
People who are more socially active and engage in social interactions with their
friends tend to be more understanding, have a better theory of mind and suffering less
from depression (Mesch & Talmud, 2007). Friends tend to be more open and
approachable than parents over time. One’s healthy relationship with a strong group of
friends can affect their mental health. While face-to-face friendships create a strong tie,
online friendships have been shown to generate weaker ties. People, who have both
online friends and real-life friends, reported that they engage in more activities with their
face-to-face friends and they have more matters to discuss than their online friends. A
good reason for it can be the time frame of their friendship; with real-life friendships
lasting longer while online friendships tend to last for a shorter period of time (Mesch &
Talmud, 2007). Therefore, it can be stated that it is the face-to-face friends that are more
concrete in nature than the online friendship which is primarily an abstract relationship.
Today there are more opportunities to make connections with people across the
globe than ever before. This has been made possible with the online platforms. The
online platform is used by numerous people however it is enjoyed only by a set of people

2ONLINE FRIENDSHIPS AND MENTAL HEALTH
or only a specific type of population. It is crucial to know the relationship between
different personality types and social media usage. According to Ryan and Xenos (2011)
people who have narcissistic personalities tend to use social media, such as Facebook,
more often than those who are diffident. They also added the ways Facebook users can
promote narcissistic behaviours. Such behaviours are very much concerned with vanity
and self-centered characteristics that are noxious acts, in terms of social and emotional
health, in long-term. The notion of social connectedness is an important topic for a
comparison of online and offline relationships. The belongingness theory describes social
well-being in terms of maintaining a social relationship, in a positive manner, in order to
exploit feelings of connectedness and intimacy (Grieve, Indian, Witteveen, Tolan &
Marrington, 2013). As mentioned above, Mesch and Talmud (2007) reported people
having short-term online friendships, while they have stronger offline friendships for a
longer period of time. This is an example of the ways online friendships cannot positively
contribute to one’s mental health. Social connectedness is an experience of joy for a short
period of time (Van Bel, Smolders, Ijsselsteijn & De Kort, 2009). Online friendships can
be beneficial for a limited time, however, in the deep-rooted effects, social media can be
destructive to one’s social wellbeing. Another study has shown that people, who get tense
when put in a social situation, prefer to use social media in order to fulfil their loneliness
(Indian & Grieve, 2014). This can be interpreted as a positive and negative impact. It can
be seen as a positive influence since it is an effortless alternative of communication for
those who are socially troubled. Research suggested the correlation between well-being
and online social support for people who have trouble socially interacting with others. On
the contrary, the research also concluded social media can be an escape for people to face