Facebook Can Actually Boost Older Adults’ Well-Being What older adults actually do on Facebook may be more important to their user experience and well-being than their overall use of the site, according to researchers.
A new study shows older adults experience different levels of competence, relatedness, and autonomy on Facebook based on the types of their activity. Specifically, older adults who posted more pictures to Facebook felt more competent, which led to significantly higher levels of well-being in general, according to researchers who report their findings in Commenting more frequently and receiving more responses to posts—also called message contingency—tended to improve feelings of relatedness and connection with others on Facebook, the researchers say. Further, older adults who customized their profiles gave them more of a sense of autonomy while on the site.