http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21583593-using-social-network-seems-make-people-more-miserable-get-life

Quote :

"THOSE who have resisted the urge to join Facebook will surely feel vindicated when they read the latest research. A study just published by the Public Library of Science, conducted by Ethan Kross of the University of Michigan and Philippe Verduyn of Leuven University in Belgium, has shown that the more someone uses Facebook, the less satisfied he is with life. Past investigations have found that using Facebook is associated with jealousy, social tension, isolation and depression. But these studies have all been “cross-sectional”—in other words, snapshots in time. As such, they risk confusing correlation with causation: perhaps those who spend more time on social media are more prone to negative emotions in the first place. The study conducted by Dr Kross and Dr Verduyn is the first to follow Facebook users for an extended period, to track how their emotions change. The researchers recruited 82 Facebookers for their study. These volunteers, in their late teens or early 20s, agreed to have their Facebook activity observed for two weeks and to report, five times a day, on their state of mind and their direct social contacts (phone calls and meetings in person with other people). These reports were prompted by text messages, sent between 10am and midnight, asking them to complete a short questionnaire. When the researchers analysed the results, they found that the more a volunteer used Facebook in the period between two questionnaires, the worse he reported feeling the next time he filled in a questionnaire. Volunteers were also asked to rate their satisfaction with life at the start and the end of the study. Those who used Facebook a lot were more likely to report a decline in satisfaction than those who visited the site infrequently. In contrast, there was a positive association between the amount of direct social contact a volunteer had and how positive he felt. In other words, the more volunteers socialised in the real world, the more positive they reported feeling the next time they filled in the questionnaire. A volunteer’s sex had no influence on these findings; nor did the size of his (or her) social network, his stated motivation for using Facebook, his level of loneliness or depression or his self-esteem. Dr Kross and Dr Verduyn therefore conclude that, rather than enhancing well-being, Facebook undermines it. Their study does not tease out why socialising on Facebook has a different effect from socialising in person. But an earlier investigation, conducted by social scientists at Humboldt University and Darmstadt’s Technical University, both in Germany, may have found the root cause. These researchers, who presented their findings at a conference in Leipzig in February, surveyed 584 users of Facebook aged mostly in their 20s. They found that the most common emotion aroused by using Facebook is envy. Endlessly comparing themselves with peers who have doctored their photographs, amplified their achievements and plagiarised their bons mots can leave Facebook’s users more than a little green-eyed. Real-life encounters, by contrast, are more WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get). What neither study proves is whether all this is true only for younger users of Facebook. Older ones may be more mellow, and thus less begrudging of their friends’ successes, counterfeit or real. Maybe."

Side note: how many of you have ever deactivated your Facebook? Did your friends text/call you more or did you drop off the face of the earth?

10/3/2013 8:24:43 AM

I never deactivated it, but stopped posting a few months about 3 years ago. People thought I died. I had a small up swing in texts wondering if I was OK and then when everyone found out I was OK it was back to normal.

10/3/2013 8:40:28 AM

Does Facebook make people unhappy? Or do people make themselves unhappy?

Instead of measuring yourself against and competing with your acquaintances, people need to just live. When You see someone posting awesome pictures, you should feel genuinely happy for them IMO. Reflect back on what's holding you back from posting something awesome, that's what you should be unhappy about.

10/3/2013 8:46:59 AM

facebook does not make me unhappy...part of that is limiting my friends list to actual friends

10/3/2013 8:52:41 AM

^^
I think part of the idea is that you only get a small glimpse of that person's life. And usually it's a glimpse of their best. Then you think "why isn't my life like that?"

But also, by your reasoning, nothing should make people unhappy. We're not all zen masters, though.

[Edited on October 3, 2013 at 8:55 AM. Reason : .]

10/3/2013 8:55:31 AM

I don't think Facebook makes me less happy either. But I've never taken enough time off from it to see how I'd feel without it.

10/3/2013 8:55:47 AM

^^ I don't disagree with any of that, but

I just think that people shouldn't blame a website for their unhappiness, when that unhappiness is a product of their own personality/creation. Even if they logged off Facebook, my guess is they'll still be unhappy or jealous about someone or something else.

But to answer your questions I've never deactivated my Facebook but have thought about it before. I've def gone through long periods of not logging on. No one checked in on me but I'm really not that active on there anyways

10/3/2013 9:06:56 AM

Quote :

"I just think that people shouldn't blame a website for their unhappiness, when that unhappiness is a product of their own personality/creation. Even if they logged off Facebook, my guess is they'll still be unhappy or jealous about someone or something else."

How about "Facebook contributes to depression"

10/3/2013 9:19:35 AM

I've recently deactivated because no one i know IRL actively uses it anymore, and if i'm not using it i don't want my information displayed anymore. Therefore i could care less what people i don't have any contact with anymore are up to.

Of course it might make someone jealous because it only shows the best highlights of people's lives. If you looked back at your own life through rose tinted glasses it'll look pretty awesome.

Basically people get depressed because they don't have enough "best highlights" to post compared to other people, making it seem like their life sucks. I'm willing to bet that 90% of the time, the people that look like they're having a great life on facebook, have a slew of debilitating real life issues and aren't doing that great.

10/3/2013 9:22:30 AM

I deactivated last night, but had to reactivate this morning to ask someone a question whose phone number I don't have.

lol

10/3/2013 9:55:56 AM

I was going to deactivate just because people were getting annoying as fuck. The dumb rednecks from back home that talk all about their baby momma drama and the stupid political posts have just gotten to be too much. The main reason I keep on is because I follow all of the restaurants around town. Knowing about daily specials (meals, not discounts) has affected my dining choices a ton of times. Its also my main photo storage spot. I need to find an alternative for that.

I think I might create a fake account and only follow restaurants.

10/3/2013 10:00:03 AM

I have it, but I really don't use it that much, other than to see pictures of my friend's kids.



I very rarely find that I have something I want to say to everyone I know at the same time.

10/3/2013 10:01:41 AM

I deactivated cause people sucked, and you can't be wildly inappropriate anymore.

It'll occasionally come up amongst friends that I'm not on there, but for the most part, nobody cared.

10/3/2013 10:03:36 AM

Quote :

"I think I might create a fake account and only follow restaurants."

I thought about doing this, but my friends (and I) rely on Facebook too much. I've deactivated a couple times and I come across situations like ^^^^

I think the best solution for me is:

1) Only real friends
2) Hide annoying people
3) Make a conscious effort to use Facebook as a last resort for communication

[Edited on October 3, 2013 at 10:03 AM. Reason : .]

10/3/2013 10:03:46 AM

i just hide people from my facebook feed, its an option in the drop down box

10/3/2013 10:04:41 AM

I'm sorry but how could you not bold this line

Quote :

"The researchers recruited 82 Facebookers for their study. "

I agree with the article but 82 people isn't exactly a study

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

10/3/2013 10:06:21 AM

The only thing that pisses me off about facebook is reading stupid status updates.

[Edited on October 3, 2013 at 10:12 AM. Reason : ]

10/3/2013 10:11:11 AM

I went on Facebook after reading this.

10/3/2013 10:11:40 AM

I deactivated my profile for like 2 years. I'm not sure if I was happier, I don't consciously feel less happy or anything now. The first thing I did when I reactivated it was delete everyone that I didn't want anything to do with. For the most part I don't think its a negative thing in my life other than the fact that I look at my phone a lot more instead of maybe doing something else. Definitely a huge time waster.

Its pretty great to be able to keep in contact with people who are far away. I'm not going to text like everyone I know once a month just to remind myself that they exist. The main reason I reactivated it was for networking / booking shows. Its really unbeatable for that shit.

These are all things that nobody knows. I'm the first person to say this ever.







Actually it was pretty great not having a facebook.

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

[Edited on October 3, 2013 at 10:27 AM. Reason : on second thought]

10/3/2013 10:26:20 AM

As an experiment, I've deactivated my Facebook account. I'm doing it for the duration of the government shutdown, so I have no idea when (if ever) I'll reactivate.

Observations:

* I don't feel any happier
* I came back to TWW for the first time in years.

10/3/2013 11:14:15 AM

^ you deactivating your account make me sad.


One time I deactivated me account and a friend texted me thinking I deleted her. Silly people.

10/3/2013 11:21:00 AM