Tag Archives: Facebook

June 3, 2022 · 11:26 pm

Social media break improves mental health – Study

Asking people to stop using social media for just one week could lead to significant improvements in their wellbeing, depression and anxiety and could, in the future, be recommended as a way to help people manage their mental health say the authors of a new study.

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The study, carried out by a team of researchers at the University of Bath (UK), studied the mental health effects of a week-long social media break. For some participants in the study, this meant freeing-up around nine hours of their week which would otherwise have been spent scrolling Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok.

Their results – published, Friday 6 May 2022, in the US journal ‘Cyberpsychology, Behaviour and Social Networking’ – suggest that just one week off social media improved individuals’ overall level of well-being, as well as reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety.

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November 27, 2017 · 12:05 am

Have a lot of Facebook friends? Check this out…

Researchers report that materialistic people view their Facebook friends as ‘digital objects’ and tend to have more social followers than those who are less interested in material possessions. The study found materialistic people objectify their Facebook friends and desire to acquire more followers to increase their digital possessions.

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If you’re materialistic, you’re likely to use Facebook more frequently and intensely. A new paper in Heliyon reveals that materialistic people see and treat their Facebook friends as “digital objects,” and have significantly more friends than people who are less interested in possessions. It also shows that materialists have a greater need to compare themselves with others on Facebook.

 

The study reveals that materialistic people use Facebook to both achieve their goals and feel good. The authors of the paper, from the Ruhr-University Bochum in Germany, have developed a new theory to explain this: The Social Online Self-Regulation Theory. Continue reading →

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September 27, 2017 · 12:09 pm

This Social Media Behavior Triples Depression Risk

As a 77 year old, I am mostly confused by the social media. I have been on Facebook for years, because a friend of mine invited me to be his ‘friend.’ When I accepted, I found myself with an account. I use it mainly for posts from this blog. I do like Google Plus a lot. I hope you younger readers aren’t overdoing it and increasing your risks of depression.

Tony

Our Better Health

Depression and anxiety risk much higher in some people using social media.

Using over seven different social media platforms is linked to a tripling in depression risk, psychological research finds.

The study asked about the 11 most popular social media platforms: Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit, Tumblr, Pinterest, Vine and LinkedIn.

Those who used between 7 and 11 of these, had 3.1 times the depression risk.

They also had 3.3 times the risk of having high levels of anxiety symptoms.

Professor Brian A. Primack, who led the study, said:

“This association is strong enough that clinicians could consider asking their patients with depression and anxiety about multiple platform use and counseling them that this use may be related to their symptoms.
While we can’t tell from this study whether depressed and anxious people seek out multiple platforms or whether something about using multiple platforms can lead to…

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August 8, 2013 · 7:47 pm

Loneliness and Facebook posting: new research

The current study tested the psychological effects of posting status updates on Facebook using an experimental design.

Aspirus Healthy Aging Service Line

Does Posting Facebook Status Updates Increase or Decrease Loneliness? An Online Social Networking Experiment

Online social networking is a pervasive but empirically understudied phenomenon.

Strong public opinions on its consequences exist but are backed up by little empirical evidence and almost no causally conclusive, experimental research.

The current study tested the psychological effects of posting status updates on Facebook using an experimental design.

For 1 week, participants in the experimental condition were asked to post more than they usually do, whereas participants in the control condition received no instructions. Participants added a lab “Research Profile” as a Facebook friend allowing for the objective documentation of protocol compliance, participants’ status updates, and friends’ responses.

Results revealed (1) that the experimentally induced increase in status updating activity reduced loneliness, (2) that the decrease in loneliness was due to participants feeling more connected to their friends on a daily basis, and…

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