Facebook has admitted that passively scrolling through posts on the social media network can leave people feeling worse afterwards
Facebook has admitted that passively scrolling through posts on the social media network can leave people feeling worse afterwards. Researchers David Ginsberg and Moira Burke in a blog post highlighted the positive and negative sides of using social media. The authors cited one experiment in which students of the University of Michigan were randomly assigned to use Facebook for 10 minutes.
ADVERTISEMENT
They were found in a worse mood at the end of the day than students assigned to post or talk to friends on Facebook. A study from the University of California, San Diego and Yale in the US found that people who clicked on about four times as many links as the average person, or who liked twice as many posts, reported worse mental health than average in a survey. "Reading about others online might lead to negative social comparison, and perhaps even more so than offline, since people's posts are often more curated and flattering," Ginsberg and Burke wrote.
Another theory is that the Internet takes people away from social engagement in person. A study conducted at the Carnegie Mellon University found that people who sent or received more messages and comments reported improvements in depression and loneliness. According to the researchers, the positive effects were even stronger when people interacted with their close friends online.
Catch up on all the latest Mumbai, National and International news here
Download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get updates on all the latest and trending stories on the go