When someone sets out to improve their health, they usually take a familiar path: starting a healthy diet, adopting a new workout plan, getting better sleep, or drinking more water. Each of these behaviors is important, of course, but they all focus on physical health and a growing body of research suggests that social health is just as, if not more, important to overall well-being.
A recent study found that the strength of a person’s social circle -- as measured by cell phone activity -- was a better predictor of self-reported stress, happiness and well-being levels than fitness tracker data on physical activity, heart rate and sleep. That finding suggests that the “quantified self” presented by endless amounts of health data doesn’t tell the whole story, says study co-author Nitesh Chawla.
“There’s a qualified self, which is who I am, what my activities, my social network, my lifestyle, and my enjoyment are. All of these aspects are not reflected in any of these measurements,” Chawla says. “And they are strong determinants of my well-being.”
A 2019 study set out to determine what’s driving those high rates of loneliness and found that social media, when used so much that it occupied face-to-face quality time, was tied to greater loneliness. Gender and income didn’t seem to have a strong effect, but loneliness tended to decrease with age, perhaps because of the wisdom and perspective afforded by years of life lived, says Dr. Stuart Lustig, one of the report’s authors.
Lustig emphasizes that we should use technology “to seek out meaningful connections and people that you are able to keep in your social sphere (范围). It’s easy enough to find groups such as Meetups, which regularly organize offline gatherings, providing members with opportunities to interact, share, and participate in various activities in real life. Or through social media, you can find places to go where you’ll find folks doing what you want to do.” That advice is particularly important for young people, he says, for whom heavy social media use is common.
Finally, Lustig stresses that even small social changes can have a large impact. Striking up post-meeting conversations with co-workers, or even engaging in micro-interactions with strangers, can make your social life feel more rewarding.
8. What is the author’s purpose in writing paragraph 1?
A.To show social health is ignored by some people. |
B.To show social people like to do workouts with others. |
C.To prove many people tend to follow suit to improve their health. |
D.To prove more and more people have benefited from physical exercise. |
9. What do we learn about fitness tracker data according to paragraph 2?
A.They are out of date. |
B.They are not scientific. |
C.They can help realize the “qualified self”. |
D.They cannot reflect one’s overall health. |
10. What did the 2019 study find?
A.Females feel happy more easily than males. |
B.Old people felt lonelier than young people. |
C.The overuse of social media could lead to loneliness. |
D.Income had a great influence on people’s well-being. |
11. What advice does Dr. Stuart Lustig give?
A.Avoiding talking to strangers. |
B.Using social media as little as possible. |
C.Using technology for meaningful interactions. |
D.Spending more time with like-minded young people. |