Is Social Media Stressing You Out?

It's so common place these days. You stop for a cup of coffee, you check on your Facebook account. You stop at a red light, you check your Twitter account. We are truly in constant contact with more people than ever before. Acquaintances have now become front and center in our lives just because of the news feed.

Some people believe that social media is now a driving force in what is being called second hand stress. Much like the idea that smoke drifting off of another person's cigarette can be harmful, some people believe that this influx of information about people we are aware of is creating more stress in our lives.

The Pew Research Center did a study and they found that social media does not create more stress in a person's life. However, the same study found that increased awareness of stressful events in other people's lives does create more stress.

I am not sure how this study can say one thing and then immediately contradict the findings with another position. It's like saying Congress doesn't piss me off, it's the people in Congress that piss me off.

Here's another kicker to this social media stress conundrum. It appears that use of social media actually helps women cope better with stress. A study done at Rutgers University in conjunction with the Pew Research Center found that women who actively use social media, text and email were shown to have a 21-percent lower stress level in a test that is designed to measure stress.

I personally am not surprised by that finding at all. Women are talkers, information gatherers, and fact finders. Men just like forward momentum whether they know what they are doing or not. Social media gives ladies an outlet to share, to gather, to confirm, and console, it's all part of their nurturing nature. Maybe that's why so many men have issues with Facebook and so many women love spending time sharing experiences with others.