Does Having More Facebook Friends Mean You Have A Bigger Brain?

Desi Jedeikin

Finally some good news on the Facebook scientific study front! After all those studies telling us that using Facebook is basically the cause of the decline of Western civilization, we now have another check in the pro column. Turns out that having more Facebook friends might actually make your brain bigger! Am I the only one frantically going through my 'recommended friends' section right now, requesting friendships with reckless abandon? I kid, I kid.

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Researchers found that people with more Facebook friends had larger areas of gray matter in four regions of the brain. These regions have to do with emotional response, memory and social interaction. I'm making the the unscientific assumption that they have smaller amounts of gray matter in the "IDGAF" regions. 

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The study also seems to indicate that people with more Facebook friends also have more real life friends. It does not clarify the percentage of those friends that would be described using sarcastic air quotes. I also find it hard to believe that these girls might possibly have larger brains than me. *weeping*

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The researchers do admit that they are unsure what came first, the bigger brains or the large Facebook friend count. Even going so far as to pontificate whether or not we are hardwired for social networking or whether the use of Facebook actually changes our brain structure.That's some bad a** evolution going on! You know what probably makes your brain really big? Accepting all those requests you've ignored and then immediately hiding them! In your face scientific study! Be right back!

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Crap! I don't have a ton of friend requests I've been ignoring! Wamp Wah! Oh well! 

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Luckily, I'm pretty sure that having a select group of friends who I actually know and like is a smarter choice than having 5,000 people that I may have gotten wasted with once. In my unscientific opinion.

What do you think? Does this make any kind of sense to you? Let me know @desijedeikin or in the comments below!

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