Can Facebook Make You Fat?

Spending more time on social networking sites may mean missing out on other activities like exercise, according to new Irish research.

The study was carried out on 353 university students, who completed an online survey to determine how much time they spent on social networking and physical activity.

The results showed that on average most students used social media like Facebook and Twitter for one hour per day.

In terms of physical activity, 52.8 percent of the students were classed as moderately active, 33.4 percent were highly active, and only 12.7 percent of the students reported low physical activity. About one-quarter of the students took part in team sports.

“Time is a finite resource, so time spent in social networking must come at the expense of other activities,” said study co-author Wendy Cousins at the University of Ulster in a press release. “Our study suggests that physical activity may be one of those activities.”

The researchers found a significant negative correlation between time spent social networking and physical activity in the previous week. People who spent more time on social media also tended to be less involved in team sports.

The study suggests that social networking and being more sedentary are linked, but the correlation may not be causal. However, a quarter of the participants said in the survey that they thought online social networking prevented them from taking part in physical activity.

“We will need to carry out more research to see if it really is a case of Facebook makes you fat, rather than Twitter makes you fitter,” Cousins said.

To establish causality, the researchers will need to record accurate measurements of what participants are actually doing, rather than a self-reported survey, in case they under- or over-estimated time spent online and engaged in physical activity.

“Social networking is now a fact of life,” Cousins wrote in an email. “Given that people are now spending so much time on sites like Twitter and Facebook, we should see this as an opportunity for health professionals to use social networking to promote healthy lifestyles and spread the message about the importance of physical activity.”

Examples include tracking walking and running routes via an iPhone app, Facebook pages for local sports clubs, and even Facebook groups that help devise a personalized marathon training schedule.

The findings will be presented at the Annual Conference of the British Psychological Society’s Division of Health Psychology in Liverpool on Sept. 7.

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