Social media may reduce depression risk for older people with pain

Social media platforms take up nearly two hours of our time every day, according to research firm GlobalWebIndex. (Marcel De Grijs/Dreamstime/TNS)

Online socialising may weaken the tie between pain and depression for older people, a US study suggests. 

People in chronic pain are at risk of depression to start with. When pain makes them stay home more, interacting with friends and family less, it only adds to this risk, the researchers write in the Journals of Gerontology, Series B.