5 Stop lurking on social media

When the study began, social media would have sounded like science fiction – but in recent years it has had a huge impact on wellbeing. We tend to blame sites like Instagram and Twitter for many of the ills of modern life, but the book shows they can have a positive impact if we use them to sustain relationships with our friends and family. Equally, people with rare medical issues or with niche interests can connect easily with others.

But all of this only works if we actually communicate with other people rather than just scrolling without engaging. In fact, silently consuming other people’s content is one of the easiest ways to feel more isolated, as it makes us compare our real lives with the curated versions of other people’s.

Waldinger’s advice: either connect more or set limits on how much you use social media sites.