Brain Structure Linked to Facebook

The number of friends one has on Facebook correlates with the size of certain brain regions—and the number of friends made in real life.

Written byJef Akst

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Though many users of the social networking site Facebook accumulate hundreds or even thousands of “friends,” many of which they’ve never met, the total is indicative of the number of real-world friends the users have, as well as the size of particular brain structures, according to a study published today (October 18) in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

“Online social networks are massively influential, yet we understand very little about the impact they have on our brains,” Geraint Rees, a Wellcome Trust Senior Clinical Research Fellow at University College London (UCL), said in a press release. “This has led to a lot of unsupported speculation the internet is somehow bad for us.” So he and his colleagues culled Facebook, which boasts more than 800 ...

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Meet the Author

Jef Akst
Jef (an unusual nickname for Jennifer) got her master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses. After four years of diving off the Gulf Coast of Tampa and performing behavioral experiments at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, she left research to pursue a career in science writing. As The Scientist's managing editor, Jef edited features and oversaw the production of the TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. In 2022, her feature on uterus transplantation earned first place in the trade category of the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.
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