Social media is an almost essential part of our lives now and there are people who just can’t take it out of their lives, because they are addicted whether they realize or not. Other than impacting the necessary daily activities of a person, social media seems to have another huge impact on our lives. A study at University of Innsbruck, Austria, reported – “expect to feel better after using Facebook, whereas in fact, they feel worse.”
The experiment was carried out by psychologists Christina Sagioglou and Tobias Greitemeyer. Their subjects were 123 Facebook users whom the scientists investigated how much time they spend on Facebook and a survey was done about their moods. The result was that the more time subjects spent on Facebook, more unhappy they were found.
Another experiment was conducted in which 263 subjects were split into three groups. One group was surveyed after spending 20 minutes on Facebook, another 20 minutes after spending time on Internet but not Facebook and the third one was surveyed without spending anytime on Facebook or Internet. This experiment had yielded some interesting results which also supported the previous result – the group who spent time on Facebook had a lower mood than any subjects of any other group.
Scientists explain the reason behind it being that the users felt they were wasting their time on a meaningless activity. Not only that but the depression escalates when people see their friends posting exciting, happy moments of their lives because users then constantly compare their lowlights to other people’s highlights.
The conclusion of study comes with an easily said, hard to be done advice – ‘Remove the social media from your life, the consequence of which will be a happy, full of life you.
- Image Credit: Pacific Standard
Reblogged this on Embakasi Reloaded.
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Like everything else
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This is very true for me!
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For me, too. Never liked Facebook. Thanks and stick with us! 😉
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Will do! 🙂
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I’m not surprised. The 2nd test was the nail, though. The first could have been swapping cause & effect, like maybe being depressed makes people wander FB.
I’m gladder than ever that I ignore social media!
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And thank you for giving Sparkonit for your precious time. 🙂
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Sometimes I feel guilty blogging about my good fortune!
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There’s nothing bad about blogging.
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🙂 Thanks!
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Reblogged this on Ikechukwu Nwosu's Blog.
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I’m currently having a 1 month detox from Facebook, I think all of this is so true. I do believe I am a stronger person and can mentally not allow myself to get pulled into feeling down or bad about seeing other people happy.
There’s other important factors as to why we should all cut down on Facebook and only be friends with the people we want to keep updated with, as judgement gets passed too easily. I don’t want to exploit my life on Facebook (and I always try and keep it funny or positive), and it is a big turn off when I see people doing just that!
Plus the advertising enticing us to impulse buy online, and all the negative pictures that thousands, even millions of people ‘like’. It’s very controversial because we don’t want to be looked at as ‘turning a blind eye’ to all of these issues. However, the 6pm news bulletin is full of all the recent stories, and library’s and other sources of more accurate media are where we should be directing our attention to.
I just don’t know what to believe on Facebook anymore. Before I know it, I’ve clicked on to a picture, read a 10 minute story, and don’t know if it’s true or made up! Then I’ll head over to Wikipedia to see if what I’m reading is correct, and there I’m left confused and still unsure. This could be over the most useless piece of information that I could come across, or it could be a really sad event like a 3rd world country village etc.
I think prior to Facebook we were all much happier!
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Yes, I agree! It does more bad than good.Thank you for spending time to share your opinion with us! 😉
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Yes, ditch FB and read more at WP, you learn a lot more 🙂
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Exactly! Thanks! 😉
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Surely not a big enough study …? But I don’t care: I DETEST Facebook and Twitter both. LONG LIVE BLOGGING !!!! [grin]
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Yeah, it’s not a big study and there should be a better one if we really want a solid evidence but it just proves the observation that social Media is a cause of depression and yes more reasonable people (like you and me, haha) detest social networking as it really is a waste of time! Blogging is way better and it certainly teaches you more than Facebook and Twitter! 😉
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Gosh, we are superior people, Ghazal ! [grin]
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No doubt! Blogging is always better 🙂
I find that Facebook and Twitter are just ways to get attention and they seem to cause a lot of unnecessary drama. So I’m happy to be free of social media (except Instagram and Vine, which I find exceptions) and just like M-R says, LONG LIVE BLOGGING !!
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I agree, and yeah! Long live blogging! 🙂
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The research behind this is very interesting, and it’s still a shock that people can be obsessed with posting everything they do and expecting people to always like it.
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Exactly. There is not a single educational site used by as many people as those on Facebook,that proves how obsessed people are with Facebook and other social networks. Thank you for sharing your thought.
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Does this mean that everyone else on Facebook isn’t having such a great time or that we’re better off not thinking about it?
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It means that more people who are not Facebook users are happier than most of the Facebook users, on average. Thanks. 🙂
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Have pretty much switched off Facebook for the last few days; it works; am happier.
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Blogs are where strangers love you, FaceBook is where your family and friends ignore you…
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Nice one! 😀 Thank you! 🙂
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No, thank you.
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Very true indeed!
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Thank you! 😉
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Reblogged this on Bleached Bone Valley
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Proud to say I’m still not on Facebook
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Now that’s something to be proud of! Thank you for the comment. 🙂
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Very interesting post. 🙂
If Facebook didn’t have its minor usefulness then I’d be sure to remove mine!
Thanks for sharing. 🙂
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Don’t let it depress you, then. 😉
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I use to be an addicted, but over time seeing that it’s the same posts people post over and over again, I’m staring to spend less time on it because it’s boring.
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Well, then you must observe the difference in your mood, thank you for stopping by. 🙂
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Nice but I understood before this analysis and stopped using it 😛
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Thanks, that’s good. 🙂
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