Facebook can be a convenient way to communicate, promote business and other things,but it can affect your mental health. Check out the article we found at Articles Mercola.
Lurking on Facebook May Make You Depressed
Spend any time on Facebook and you’ll be inundated with photos and posts depicting other people’s seemingly perfect families and lives. Such posts can induce feelings of envy. It leads to unrealistic social comparisons. This bring down your mood and level of well-being. It can even lead to depression.
A new study of more than 1,000 people in Denmark further revealed causal evidence that “Facebook affects our well-being negatively”. Facebook users who took a one-week break from the site reported significantly higher levels of life satisfaction. Signs of significantly improved emotional life as well, the study revealed.
Such gains were greatest among heavy Facebook users, those who used the site passively (lurking but not necessarily interacting with others) and those who tended to envy others on Facebook.
If you’re a regular Facebook user interested in increasing your well-being, it might not be necessary to quit the site for good, however. The researchers suggested making adjustments in your usage behavior could be enough to prompt positive change:
“To make things clear, if one is a heavy Facebook user, one should use Facebook less to increase one’s well-being. And if one tends to feel envy when on Facebook, one should avoid browsing the sections (or specific friends) on Facebook causing this envy.
And if one uses Facebook passively, one should reduce this kind of behavior. Due to habits, practicalities and potential ‘forecasting errors,’ it may be difficult to change one’s way of using Facebook. If this is the case, one should consider quitting Facebook for good.”
Little-Known Downfalls of Social-Media Usage
In a Preventive Medicine study, also significantly associated with disturbed sleep are greater social media use among young adults (those aged 19 to 32 years).
On one hand, people are staying up late to respond to messages and monitor what’s happening on social media so they don’t miss out. On the other hand, even the light emitted from a smartphone, computer or tablet could be interfering with your sleep.
Melatonin is a regulator of your sleep cycle. When it is suppressed there is less stimulation to promote sleepiness at a healthy bedtime.
Computer screens emit blue light, to which your eyes are particularly sensitive because it’s the type of light most common outdoors during daytime hours. As a result, checking social media at night can easily disrupt your melatonin production.
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Read Full Article: Facebook Lurking Can Make You Feel Miserable, According To Study
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