Have you ever wondered how important social connection is in your life? For most people, they focus on following a balanced diet, getting enough sleep, exercising regularly, and having regular checkups with a doctor. As long as we do all these, we think that we are already caring for ourselves adequately. But did you know that social connection is just as important to keep yourself healthy and happy?
Why is social connection important? Social connection is important as it improves your physical, emotional, and mental health. By nature, we as human beings are inherently social. While caring for your body and mind through healthy habits is important, establishing and maintaining social connections with others is important too. You shouldn’t overlook the benefits of this crucial aspect of life.
The more connected you are with other people, the more enriched your life becomes. Of course, it’s not just about the number of connections you have. You should also focus on the quality of these social connections and how they contribute to happiness and positivity in your life. Read on to learn more about social connections and why you need them in your life now…
What Is Social Connection?
Before moving on to the benefits of social connection and why you need to have this in your life, let’s define it first. When talking about social connection, we mean the feeling of closeness or belonging, either to other individuals or to a group of people. While many studies have been conducted about this subject, one particular study has provided strong scientific evidence that social connection is one of our core psychological needs. (Pavey, Greitemeyer & Sparks, 2011). This means that it plays an important role in how satisfied we feel with our lives.
There’s no doubt about it – we human beings are profoundly social. We have a powerful drive to connect with other people and this drive is deeply embedded in history. The moment we are born, we already yearn to build a relationship with the person who cares most about us. As we grow up, the effects of this first relationship we have will reverberate all throughout our lives.
When children are loved and well taken care of from the beginning, there is a very high likelihood that they would have strong social connections as they grow older. This is definitely something to think about if you have children of your own. Think about your relationships right now… Are they secure? Are you happy with them? Do they enrich your life? Or do you feel like there is something lacking in your social life?
According to researchers, social connectedness has three core dimensions. These are all associated with healthy relationships that you can work on to combat loneliness and improve your social connectivity. These three core dimensions are:
| Core Dimension | What It’s All About |
| Collective connectedness | This dimension comes from the feeling that you are a part of a collective or a group beyond your own existence as an individual. For instance, you can feel this when you are part of a tight-knit family. |
| Intimate connectedness | This dimension comes from the feeling that you have a special someone in your life who affirms you as a person. For instance, you can feel this if you have a partner (like a spouse) who knows you, loves you, and supports you as you are. |
| Relational connectedness | This dimension comes from the feeling that your personal interactions with others are mutually rewarding. For instance, you can feel this if you have a group of close friends and each time you meet in person (to have coffee, go out for lunch, watch a movie, and so on), you all feel good about spending time with each other. |
While having plenty of social connections is a good thing, it’s also wise to focus on the quality of these connections. If you want to lead a happy and healthy life, establishing and maintaining strong ties with trustworthy people is of essence. Learn how to cultivate your relationships to make them deeper and more satisfying, so that when you are faced with challenges, you can turn to these people for support.
The strongest social connections are the ones you share with people who are concerned about your happiness and well-being. They should provide you with hope and inspiration instead of making you feel stressed or burdened out. In this modern-day and age, too many of us are focused on online social interactions. While there is nothing wrong with these connections, personal or face-to-face connections are much more meaningful and beneficial. You can easily determine if your social connections are meaningful as they would provide you with:
- Appraisal
This means that the people you share connections with feel comfortable enough to give you honest feedback and constructive criticism. This is a type of support that you can’t expect from people you don’t know that well. Only those whom you trust and who trust you in return would have the courage to provide you with genuine appraisal.
- Companionship
Your connections can provide you with companionship to make you feel more socially accepted. You would feel this when you belong to a certain group like a church group, a book club, or any other kind of group where you share commonalities and you get together frequently to interact socially.
- Emotional support
This type of support assures you that you aren’t alone. This is another important thing that you get from connecting socially with other people. Such people would nurture you and motivate you to keep moving forward no matter how hard life gets. You can get this from relationships where you share love, care, intimacy, encouragement, and trust.
- Tangible support
This type of support comes from favors, resources, and other tangible things that you get from the people you are connected with. This is very important too, especially when you find yourself in a tight spot and you need someone to bail you out.
- Useful information
You can get this from friends, family, and professional acquaintances like accountants, lawyers, doctors, and more. The information you get from these people can help you solve problems and overcome difficult challenges.
Obviously, you cannot get all of these from a single person. This is why you need to establish connections with different kinds of people. You know that the connections you make are worth keeping when you appreciate and value them. In other words, they should help make you a more well-rounded and happier person.
The Importance of Social Connection
Right now, there’s a lot of hype surrounding the importance of social connections in our life. Unfortunately, as we are learning this importance, we also seem to be losing touch with others with the advent of social media. But the fact is, not having enough social connections can have a lot of negative impact on your life. When you are lonely, you are more vulnerable to anxiety, depression, and a wide range of illnesses.
Think about it – what if you had to move to a different town or country? What would you miss the most? If you’re like most people, you would probably miss the people you left behind the most. This is exactly what this interesting video talks about. Furthermore, it also shares some information about the benefits of having social connections (which I talk about below).
Simply put, social connections are the relationships you share with those around you. Having these connections allows you to interact with friends, family, colleagues, neighbours, and acquaintances while relating to them in positive ways. Strong social connections are very important as they can provide these benefits:
- Social connections will make you happier
When you have positive, good, and genuine people in your life, this will make you a happier person. Remaining socially active is good for you as it combats loneliness and negativity. Several studies have proven that people who have a lot of high-quality social connections are happier and healthier compared to people who aren’t socially active. Instead of spending all of your time in front of screens, give the people in your life a call and share some quality time with them. You’ll definitely feel better afterward.
- Social connections will make you feel better about your life and yourself
When you have healthy relationships with others, this improves your feeling of self-worth. When people accept you, consider you a friend, or show that they genuinely love you, this reinforces your belief that you’re a valuable person. In the same way, when you feel like you belong, you are able to thrive and blossom more. And when you spend time with those who make you feel like you belong, this makes you feel better about your life. Having genuine social connections also gives you a feeling of security, especially when you belong to a very supportive and loving social network.
- Social connections have positive impact on your physical health
Here’s another short but interesting video where the physical and mental benefits of social connections are explained.
Social connections have a number of positive effects on your health. For one, your cognitive functions may increase when you interact with others frequently. Another surprising effect of social connections is that it helps boost your immune function. This is mainly because of the interactions you share with others. The more you are exposed to other people, the more your body becomes exposed to germs. This, in turn, makes your immune system more efficient as it learns how to combat these germs. Social connections can even help you prevent diseases in the same way as they help improve your immune function. Generally, the more you interact with others, the better you feel in all the different aspects of your life.
- Social connections will make you live longer
Social connections play a role in your daily life. In fact, social connection is considered a greater health determinant compared to high blood pressure, smoking, and obesity. And one of the great things about social connections is that you don’t have to be physically present to benefit from them. As long as you feel like you are connected with others and they genuinely accept and understand you, you will feel all of these benefits.
According to numerous researchers, since social connections make you healthier, they can also increase your longevity. This applies no matter what age you are, no matter what your gender is, and more. Even in the workplace, maintaining healthy social connections increases your job satisfaction, which, in turn, encourages you to remain in your workplace for years to come.
These are the most significant benefits of social connections have to offer. With all of these, you can clearly see why improving your social life will also have positive impacts on other aspects.
What Science Has to Say
As you can see, social connections are really important. To keep yourself healthy, happy, and motivated, work on your relationships, not just on your physical health. While you have already learned a lot about social connections in this article, you may be wondering where all of this information came from. If you have ever met a person who has a lot of close friends, family members, and loved ones, the benefits of these social connections would be evident.
But there have also been a lot of scientific research and studies that support these claims. Since social connections are an important part of life, researchers have spent a lot of time studying how they affect all other aspects of life. Now, let’s take a look at some of these studies along with their results:
- One study published in 2008 suggested that happiness is “contagious” and it can be spread through social connections (Fowler & Christakis, 2008). Therefore, if your social network has a happy and positive attitude overall, these good feelings will rub off on you. According to this study, the company that you keep has a powerful impact on your behavior and moods. You can read more about this study here.
- In another study, researchers discovered that having strong social connections in your life may significantly increase your longevity (Holt-Lunstad, Smith & Layton, 2010). This is actually one of the most significant benefits of maintaining social connections throughout your life.
- One of the more interesting studies conducted had the catchy title “Very Happy People” (Diener & Seligman, 2002). Here, the results showed that happy people had a lot more social connections compared to unhappy individuals. And because of their disposition, they are able to react more appropriately to events that happen in their lives.
- A study that you can read more about here has shown that both the quality and quantity of social relationships can have an effect on your physical and mental health, mortality risk, and more (Umberson & Montez, 2010). Furthermore, having social connections can help improve health conditions and biological markers that indicate risk of medical conditions.
- One of the bigger studies that involved almost 1,200 German individuals was conducted about social connections and happiness (Rohrer, et al., 2018). Through this study, the researchers discovered two main types of strategies to achieve happiness – individual and social. For those who found happiness through social strategies, these involved their social connections. In the long run, these people fared better compared to those who focused more on individual strategies.
- When it comes to supporting mental health, social connectedness is crucial. In another study, this is exactly what the researchers focused on (Saeri, et al., 2017). The results of this study further demonstrated how social connectedness can serve as a sort of “cure” for ill-health of the psyche. Yet again, this shows how beneficial social connections can be, especially for those suffering from mental health issues.
- Even in the past, researchers have studied the importance of this social aspect. In one of the older studies conducted, it showed the consistency of increased mortality risk among those with low-quantity and low-quality social relationships (House, Landis & Umberson, 1988). Even in the late 80s, researchers had already seen the importance of social connectedness in our lives.
- Most people who suffer from depression commonly exhibit dysfunctional social behaviors. Those who have greater symptoms of this condition have reported more social interactions that are negative and they have a tendency to react more strongly to these interactions (Steger & Kashdan, 2017). On the other hand, people who have a strong sense of connectedness experience less depression and anxiety. You can read more about this study here.
- Social connection isn’t just an important aspect of our lives. It’s also one of the pillars of lifestyle medicine. As human beings, we are wired to connect with others and these connections have an impact on our health. In one particular study, the results provided evidence on this (Martino, Pegg & Frates, 2017). Here, the researchers discovered that feeling connected with others can help empower overall health, wellness, and well-being.
- Finally, the results of another study showed that people who are more socially connected tend to be more empathic, cooperative, trusting, and have higher self-esteem (Dang, 2014). Because of this, other people also tend to be more trusting, cooperative, and open towards them. This shows that having social connections create a positive feedback loop of physical, emotional, and social well-being.
These are just a few studies that further show the importance of social connections. One thing these studies have in common is that they all show overwhelmingly positive results in terms of social connectedness. After reading all of the science-backed evidence, what should you do next?
Increasing Social Connection in Your Life
Now that you know all the great things that can potentially come out of having healthy social connections, it’s time to put your phone down and start interacting personally with the people in your life. Apart from being crucial to your happiness, interacting face-to-face with others for the purpose of strengthening your connections can have a number of powerful, long-term advantages.
Building connections and working on them takes a lot of time and effort. But everything you put into these relationships will be worth it. Even the smallest, seemingly insignificant interactions can have profound effects on your life when they happen on a regular basis. And, as you expand your network, you won’t just increase your happiness. You also end up being part of other people’s social networks, which means that you will be contributing to the happiness and longevity of others.
Incredible, isn’t it?
With this in mind, along with all the good things you have just read in the previous sections, the next thing to learn is how to increase your social connections. To do this, here are some practical and easy tips for you:
- Get rid of your “busy mindset”
We are all busy. This is a fact. It also happens to be the easiest excuse not to meet other people in person. But if you really put in an effort, you will find that you have the time to interact socially with others to improve your connections. When you receive invitations, accept! Then move your schedule around so you can make it to the event. Instead of saying “no” to everything, challenge yourself by agreeing to attend social gatherings and events where you can unwind and catch up with those closest to you.
- Find the courage to connect with other people
If you have settled into the comfort of isolation, it’s time to break free. It may take courage, but you should know that the courage is within you. Make a choice to nurture your sense of belonging and connectedness by reaching out to others. You don’t have to do this drastically. Take small steps. Meet a friend before agreeing to go to a party where there are many people. Call one of your family members before agreeing to attend a family dinner. Start slow and, eventually, you will find the courage to push yourself further without feeling anxious or stressed.
- Work on making your existing connections stronger
We all have existing connections even though we haven’t spoken to those people in person for a long time. If you find it overwhelming to interact with new people, then work on strengthening the connections you already have first. This makes it easier for you to re-learn how to interact with others. The more you do this, the more you will remember how fun and fulfilling it is to share yourself with others.
- Try to be more mindful and accepting of other people
Often, we have this bad habit of judging people and situations that come our way. Unfortunately, when you do this, you are also closing the door to potential social connections. Try to be more mindful of others and learn how to accept people for who they are. Give others a chance and they may surprise you. Who knows? Maybe after you get to know a person, they will eventually be one of your most trusted friends!
- Learn how to share yourself with other people
One of the most effective tools you can use to connect with other people is storytelling. By nature, we are wired to feel inspired to learn from the stories shared by other people. Sharing yourself through stories will captivate others so they become more interested in getting to know you better. Just make sure that you only share your most authentic self as most people can tell if you’re just trying to impress them with empty promises and false information.
- Reach out to other people and be present for them
You can’t establish social connections unless you reach out to other people. There are many ways to do this. To make it easier for you, choose a method you feel comfortable with. For instance, you can start up a conversation with a person through social media, then use this to send an invite to meet up to share a meal or a cup of coffee. These days, so many people rely on social media platforms. While there is nothing wrong with these modern methods of interacting with others, nothing beats personal interaction. Use social media as a way to connect and then follow through by meeting others in person. This makes it easier to strengthen your social connections.
Increasing social connections in your life is important. Here’s another video for you on this topic along with a few final tips on how to become a relationship ninja..
Related Questions
What is the importance of being socially healthy?
Being socially healthy is very important as it helps keep your mind and body in peak condition. Maintaining the health of your social life also gives your immune system a boost, allowing you to live longer than those who prefer to isolate themselves from the world.
What are the advantages of having social relationships?
To improve your social health, work on establishing and maintaining strong social relationships. These, in turn, provide you with a lot of benefits such as an increase in your physical health, a more positive outlook in life, improved mental functions, and more fulfillment in life.
What is the importance of social support?
Social support refers to the emotional and physical comfort given by those you share social connections with. This is very important as it gives you a sense of belonging. Social support also makes you more confident since you know that no matter what happens, you can always count on those around you.