![]() Of course, there are also myriad studies that show that the more time one spends on social media, the worse off they are in terms of mental health, but many of them also come with the caveat that - again - it's all about how you use it.Ī 2017 study out of the University of Pittsburg and published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine surveyed a much larger number of diverse adults ages 19-32 in the US. This isn't the same as your mother telling you to get off the computer and go outside to get some fresh air (although that's likely to be helpful), but about taking control of your presence on, and use of, social media. If you let it get the best of you, chances are it will increase your suffering.Ĭonstant scrolling, relying on "likes" and other reactions for validation, getting caught up in reading or responding to comments, and continuing to visit the pages of people who evoke negative reactions are all under a user's control. If you can find a way to use it productively (which, of course, will look different for everyone), you may be able to find support or resources that help you manage your issues. ![]() In fact, it could worsen your self-esteem, as well as make symptoms of your sleep disturbances, body image issues, muscle tension, depression, or anxiety worse.īut as Dibb's work shows, it really does matter how you use the platform. In other words, if your self-esteem is low and you're feeling bad about yourself, Facebook is probably not going to make you any happier. In the survey of 278 Facebook users, even those who strategically presented themselves in a positive light (even if it wasn't entirely accurate) had better happiness scores, and the researchers posited that it left people with a feeling of control over their environment and other users' perception of them. Using volunteers from Amazon's Mechanical Turk platform, the researchers found that those who presented themselves more authentically on Facebook (or leaned toward " true self-presentation") reported being happier and having higher self-esteem. This study comes on the heels of last year's research from advertising scholars at Texas Tech in the journal Computers in Human Behavior suggesting that a user's self-esteem influences their self-presentation on Facebook. ![]() But it depends on how (and how often) you use it. If we see those people as having more glamorous or fulfilling lives, we often make unfavorable comparisons to our own. Of course, the ubiquity of sites like Facebook and Instagram give us the ability to compare ourselves constantly with people all over the world. The results are not saying that social media is damaging health in itself. So being aware why and how you are using FB is important. ![]() ![]() The results show that people who compare on FB report more physical symptoms than those who don’t compare – this means that comparison on FB makes us more aware of common physical symptoms – which could be negative as we know that physical health is associated with perceptions of quality of life BUT the results could also mean that those with more physical problems tend to compare more on FB and this may be positive in helping them manage their health. Those with higher self-esteem, for example, did not report as many symptoms of these ailments. The connection between comparisons and symptoms was found more often in people who felt unsure of or lower satisfaction with their lives. It's unknown if Facebook usage leads to more symptoms - or at least feeling them more acutely - or if a user's symptoms tend to drive him or her to Facebook and compare their lives with others. This was most commonly found in female survey respondents. ![]()
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