A single message on Facebook can directly change users’ behavior — and more importantly, that of their friends and their …
social networks
The Upside of Peer Pressure: Social Networks Help Kids Exercise More
A new study finds that the single biggest influence on kids’ physical activity levels is the exercise habits of their closest friends.
How Teen Drinking Is Influenced by Romantic Partner’s Pals
Like so many other socially “contagious” traits that have been studied before it — among them, happiness, loneliness, generosity, obesity, disordered eating and quitting smoking — teenagers’ drinking behavior may be …
The Healthland Podcast: Superobese Kids, Parents on Facebook and Betty Ford’s Mixed Legacy
This week on the podcast, Healthland editor Sora Song asks whether child obesity is child abuse. TIME editor-at-large Belinda Luscombe reports that adults are less savvy on Facebook than teens. And TIME senior writer John Cloud …
How Social Networks Spread Eating Disorders
Teens are undeniably influenced by those around them, and by what they see on social media from television to the internet. So what happens when western media infiltrates a remote island society?
Generosity Can Be Contagious
One person’s initial generosity can spark a chain reaction of benevolence, according to the latest study from prolific social contagion researchers James Fowler and Nicholas Christakis.