Spending Time On Facebook Linked To Increased Feelings Of Depression

Spending more time on Facebook has been linked to increased feelings of depressed feelings according to a new study. If you find yourself admiring other people’s newsfeeds, or comparing your life to theirs, it might be time to step away from your social media to protect your mental health. The research, published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, found that despite knowing we are watching ‘highlighted’ events on our friends’ channels, that spending prolonged time on other people’s profiles will affect how we view our own lives. Researcher Mai-Ly Steers explained that although comparing ourselves to others is a natural reaction, Facebook is creating a narrow range of experiences to compare ourselves to, creating a skewed view: "One danger is that Facebook often gives us information about our friends that we are not normally privy to, which gives us even more opportunities to socially compare. "You can't really control the impulse to compare because you never know what your friends are going to post. In addition, most of our Facebook friends tend to post about the good things that occur in their lives, while leaving out the bad. If we're comparing ourselves to our friends' 'highlight reels,' this may lead us to think their lives are better than they actually are and conversely, make us feel worse about our own lives." Steers, who conducted the research in line with two current studies on the use of social media in teens and young adults, hopes the study will help guide interventions in the use of Facebook amongst those at risk of depression.