As more and more people are “ghosted” or are “ghosted” by their friends, know that cultivating a strong network of friends promotes psychological well-being.
Vanishing from a friend’s life overnight without any explanation (or “ghosting”) isn’t good for your mental health, according to two new studies. Conversely, cultivating a strong social network promotes psychological well-being.
Depressive tendencies
The first searchpublished in Telematics and Informaticsshows that the “friendly ghosting” ultimately degrades mental health.
“Thanks to new blocking features in digital communication devices, ghosting has become a common strategy for ending friendships” recall the authors of the study in the preamble. “About 30% of young people have indeed already ghosted a friend and 25% have already experienced this phenomenon”, they continue.
After conducting two surveys of 978 people in their twenties, the researchers found “that youth who reported having ghosted friends in the past were more likely to report increased depressive tendencies four months later.”
Less stress and more opportunities
According another studythis time conducted by Medscape among 1,614 French doctors, cultivating solid friendships, on the contrary, allows you to reduce stress and take advantage of more professional opportunities.
“Doctors generally have harmonious friendly relations”, first note the report. “Their arguments with close friends are rare, with just under half of respondents indicating that they have never experienced this type of conflict”, pursue the authors of the investigation. A good thing, “since it has already been shown that networks of friends constitute one of the main factors in controlling stress at work among health professionals”, they point out.
Last lesson of the survey: having friends in the same professional environment allows certain doctors to benefit from better opportunities such as promotions or job offers, “whether occasionally (for 31% of them), or frequently (14%)”.
