Social Network Benefits

The earliest theories about the relatedness of one's social integration and one's health came from sociologists such as Emile Durkheim, as well as from psychoanalysts such as John Bowlby, a British psychoanalyst, who first formulated attachment theory, stating that it is in the very nature of humans even as early as infancy to seek companionship from another human being in order to feel secure. Durkheim (1897), in his book Suicide, argued that suicide primarily results from a lack of integration of the individual into society. Robert E. L. Faris’s work on cultural isolation and the development of mental illness also emphasized the importance of social contacts.
Much has already been said about the topic, from anthropologists to epidemiologists, all have had their say about the benefits and detriments of a social network to the individual's well-being. In the article “From Social Integration To Health: Durkheim In The New Millennium” by Lisa F. Berkman, Thomas Glass, Ian Brissette, and Teresa E. Seeman, the authors boil down the myriad ways of how social networks affect health into three points: First, social networks via social influence or supportive functions influence health-promoting or health-damaging behaviors such as tobacco and alcohol consumption, physical activity, dietary patterns, sexual practices, illicit drug use. Second, social networks via any number of pathways influence cognitive and emotional states such a self-esteem, social competence, self-efficacy, depression and etc. Third, networks may have direct effects on health outcomes by influencing a series of physiologic pathways largely related to stress responses.
In the article “Why Would Social Networks Be Linked to Affect and Health Practices?”
by Sheldon Cohen and Edward P. Lemay, the authors propose that one's degree of social integration, (that is, the frequency of one's interaction with members of one’s social network) might influence how people react to their social environment. They later found out that primarily the people with low social integration smoked and drank a lot more when they number of people they interacted with increased. The people with a high degree of social integration were relatively independent, that is, they did not smoke or drink more even if they interacted with more people. They explained this by hypothesizing that this result was consistent with the argument that people with a high degree of social integration “are responsive to the ongoing normative constraints to live a healthy lifestyle that belonging to an integrated social network places on them. In contrast, the less integrated may be more susceptible to moment-by-moment social pressures that influence their smoking and drinking behaviors.”
Sheldon Cohen, Ian Brissette, David P. Skoner, and William J. Doyle, in their article “Social Integration and Health: The Case of the Common Cold” cite Peggy A. Thoits as having proposed a more explicit theory of how social integration benefits health and well being. Thoits argued that people’s identities are tied to their social roles. Social roles are viewed as the expectations on how to act, dress, speak, etc. that one's social environments puts upon the individual. These behavioral expectations impose a sense of predictability in people’s lives by providing information about how one ought to act. Also, by meeting role expectations individuals are given the opportunity to enhance self-esteem. Social roles provide a purpose to life. Thus, as people accumulate roles that their social network expects of them, the sense that they possess a meaningful, guided existence strengthens. It is implied that a sense of meaning in life is an integral component of psychological well-being and that failing to have a sense of meaning often leads to improper conduct and deviant self-destructive behavior. This position is called the "identity accumulation" hypothesis (Thoits, 1983). For example, being in a dance group, you have to play a role in that group, hence, your feeling of self-worth is improved because you know that other people are relying on you to perform your role. By accomplishing and meeting the expectations of a social network, i.e. your social role, one is given a sense of accomplishment.
Of course, as with most things, social networking is a double-edged sword. Negative effects are as pervasive as the positive ones. Obviously, being a member of a social network does not in itself guarantee well-being.