Facebook may raise cancer risk— Study

Facebook may raise cancer risk

Studies indicate that making more friends on social networking sites and less in real life may lead to serious health issues, NNAEMEKA MERIBE writes.

This will certainly be an unpleasant piece of news, especially for the younger generation who now literally live in social networking sites like Facebook.

A United Kingdom-based American psychologist cum biologist, Dr. Aric Sigman, claims that social networking sites can raise risk of serious health problems because it reduces face-to-face contact.

He argues in Biologist, the journal of the Institute of Biology, that emailing people, rather than meeting up with them, may have wide-ranging biological effects.

According to him, increased isolation can alter the way genes work and upset immune responses, hormone levels and the function of arteries. It can also impair mental performance.

This, he says, can increase the risk of problems as serious as cancer, strokes, heart disease and dementia.

Social networking sites such as twitter, MySpace, Facebook and Flickr, allow people to keep in touch with friends over the web. They can swap pictures, play games and leave messages which explain how their day has been.

But even though they are designed to bring people together, Sigman, according to the Mail of London, says they are actually playing a significant role in people becoming more isolated.

Sigman’s claims tend to be consistent with the 2009 study by a University of Chicago researcher, Dr. John Cacioppo, which warns that being lonely is as bad for the health as smoking or obesity.

Also, several studies, according to the Mail of London suggested that the number of hours people spend speaking to others face-to-face had fallen dramatically since 1987 as the use of electronic media increased.

But a consultant psychiatrist at the Ladoke Akintola University Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, Dr. Adeoye Oyewole, doubts that the findings of Sigman’s study will make much sense in the African environment.

However, researchers from the University of Texas, United States, argue to the contrary. According a Reuters report published on November 20, the researchers aver that social networking site do not weaken personal ties, they strengthen them in unique ways for different age groups.

Sigman claims that interacting ‘in person’ has effects on the body not seen when writing emails, noting that levels of hormones such as the ‘cuddle chemical‘ oxytocin, which promotes bonding, alter according to whether people are in close contact or not.

“There does seem to be a difference between ‘real presence’ and the virtual variety,” Sigman adds.

In Sigman’s research, some genes, including ones involved with the immune system and responses to stress, acted differently according to how much social interaction a person had with others.

Sigman notes, “Social networking sites should allow us to embellish our social lives, but what we find is very different.

”It‘s not that I‘m old fashioned in terms of new technology, but its purpose should be to provide a tool that enhances our lives.”

“Social networking is the Internet’s biggest growth area, particular among young children,” the Mail of London quotes Sigman as telling the Press Association.

“A quarter of British children have a laptop or computer in their room by the age of five and they have their own social networking sites, like the BBC’s myCBBC. It‘s causing huge changes.”

Sigman says 209 ‘socially regulated‘ genes have been identified, including ones involved in the immune system, cell proliferation and responses to stress.

Their activity, he argues, may account for higher rates of inflammatory disease and other health problems seen in socially isolated individuals.

Electronic media, he adds, are also undermining the ability of children and young people to learn vital social skills and read body language.

He says, “Parents spend less time with their children than they did only a decade ago. Britain has the lowest proportion of children in all of Europe who eat with their parents at the table. The proportion of people who work at home alone continues to rise.

“I am worried about where this is all leading. “Social networking sites should allow us to embellish our social lives, but what we find is very different. The tail is wagging the dog. These are not tools that enhance, they are tools that displace.”

Cacioppo argues that being cut off from friends and family can raise blood pressure and weaken the immune system, adding that that it can also make it harder to sleep and even speed the progression of dementia, he adds.

The psychologist insists that loneliness raises levels of the hormone, cortisol, and can push blood pressure up into the danger zone for heart attacks and strokes.

His study which was presented at 2009 edition of the annual American Association for the Advancement of Science‘s conference reveals that the difference in health between the lonely and the most socially active can be as great as that between smokers and non-smokers and the obese and those of normal weight.

Cacioppo says, “When time takes its toll on the body, loneliness steepens that slope of descent.”

In his study, the loneliest people had blood pressure readings up to 30 points higher than those with the most active social lives, making them three times more likely to develop heart disease and stroke and twice as likely to die from them as people with normal blood pressure.

When Cacioppo and his team compared the health of people who shut themselves away from the world with gregarious types they found the difference as great as that between smokers and non-smokers, the obese and the normal weight or those who exercised and those who didn‘t.

Cacioppo says the phenomenon is hugely relevant in today’s fragmented society, where many people communicate through the Internet rather than face-to-face

He says, “We are increasingly living in isolation. Partly because we are ageing, also because we are marrying later and having fewer children there are fewer confidantes and levels of loneliness are going up.”

He advises the lonely to try making friends through charity work and says it is better to have a few strong friendships than lots of acquaintances.

But Oyewole says that people in Western countries immerse themselves in social networking sites because they lack the rich culture of social relationship which Africans have.

He says, “The study may not be replicated in Africa because there are ways our culture makes it mandatory for us to relate face-to-face with our relatives, friends and neighbours whether we use Facebook heavily or not.

“But in places like the UK or US, they lack such intervening social networks; hence relationship is gradually being relegated.

“So while I agree with the study in relation to the Western environment, I believe it may not be replicated in Africa.”

However, according to the University of Texas researchers, “Our findings suggest that Facebook is not supplanting face-to-face interactions between friends, family and colleagues.

An associate professor of radio, TV and film, Dr. Craig Watkins, who led the research team says, “In fact, we believe there is sufficient evidence that social media afford opportunities for new expressions of friendship, intimacy and community.”

More than 60 per cent of the 900 Facebook users questioned by the researchers said posting status updates was among the most popular activities, followed by 60 per cent who wrote comments on their profile and 49 per cent who posted messages and comments to friends.

But the British national health care provider, National Health Service, says Sigman’s claims shouldn‘t worry users of social networking sites

NHS in its review of Sigman’s claims, published on its website, www.nhs.co.uk, notes that his study is not a systematic review.

“It is an article that expresses the opinion of the author, who cites various studies that have informed this opinion. As this was not a systematic review, there may be other relevant studies that the author has not included. Some of these studies may not support the author‘s opinions,” the body argues.

“None of the studies described found that loneliness, social isolation or social networking affected the risk of developing cancer. It is possible that in at least some of the studies adverse health led to greater social isolation rather than the other way round. It is also possible that using social networking sites may lead to reduced social isolation and loneliness, although this possibility is not addressed by the article.”

It concludes that the study does not provide proof of an adverse effect of social networking or other technology on people‘s health. People who use social networking sites should not be bothered by this article.

Source:Punch