Sonja Lyubomirsky says gratitude texting increased connection more than private writing or social-media posting

What was said

"We did another study where we had people either write to themselves gratitude or text it to another person or express it on social media because we thought that might be interesting comparison. We actually found that all of those conditions uh were associated with more happiness. But only one of those three people felt more connected."

Sonja Lyubomirsky says her team compared expressing gratitude by writing privately, texting another person, or posting on social media. She reports that all three approaches were associated with greater happiness, but that increased feelings of connection appeared only in the one-to-one texting condition.