Social media driving Aussies apart

Keeping in touch ... Catherine Robertson, 25, says social media helps her keep in contact with friends she made during boarding school and a year living overseas. Picture: Ian Currie Source: News Corp Australia

IT'S official; Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are taking over our relationships.

More than half of Aussies aged between 18 and 34 now spend more time talking and interacting with friends and family on social media than in person.

And it's not necessarily bringing us closer together, because almost two thirds of the same 18 to 34-year olds concede they would be more inclined to make the time to catch up with friends in person if social media did not exist.

The findings are contained in chocolate company San Churro's Happiness report, which will be released today.

And surprisingly, the research shows those people who use social media the most are also experiencing the greatest sense of social disconnection.

Clinical psychologist with the Happiness Institute Paula Watkins said social media is still a relatively recent human experiment, and can have significant impacts on its users.

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"Only two in five Australians feel that social media has revolutionised their relationships in a meaningful and positive way," Dr Watkins said,

"I think it is really important for us not to get all puritan here, or anti-technology — which would be a losing battle to begin with, but the real challenge is to engage with social media consciously and to work out when it will stop contributing to our happiness."

The Happiness report found that 64 per cent of 18-24 year olds used social media to connect with friends and family in the immediate 24 hours before being surveyed.

But only half that number — 32 per cent — chatted to family or friends over the phone in that same 24 hour period.

And just 15 per cent caught up with family and friends for a coffee or dinner.

Despite this, 73 per cent of adults aged 18-34 admit they suspect social media is driving people apart, not bringing them together.

Ebony Bennett, a senior executive with Lonergan Research, who conducted the study, said the results indicated social media only brought people closer together on a relatively superficial level.

"Young people in particular were very likely to agree that although they have hundreds of friends on social media they feel more disconnected than ever before," Ms Bennett said.

"There is a lot of ambivalence and a feeling that not everything is positive about that experience with social media, particularly for young people."

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