Facebook and Depression

Facebook And Depression - Some decades ago, a new kind of interaction has overcome the world by broadening dramatically the means individuals appreciate news and also home entertainment: television. Back then tv was a big action for humanity, even if there were people who had a different point of view. The poet as well as playwright TS Eliot, as an example, mentioned: "It is a tool of amusement which allows countless people to listen to the very same joke at the same time, but however, they continue to be alone".

Facebook And Depression

Currently you could use the same reasoning to social networks, particularly Facebook, which in ten years has gotten to 1.3 billion clients, half of which passes an average of 18 minutes logged. Facebook connects individuals worldwide. Nevertheless, the impact of this social network is not as positive as you might think.

Facebook And Depression


A raising number of studies suggest that the possibility to be "linked" with other individuals does not necessarily indicate to be happier; actually, it might adversely influence our mood, since lots of people are connected yet still are alone.

In this regard, psychologists of the College of Michigan and University of Louvain, have determined to grow the partnership between making use of Facebook and a satisfying life. These scientists asked a team of people to state 5 times a day for 2 weeks on their emotion. So they located that the use of Facebook is associated with a bad health. They also discovered that people claim they really feel worse after checking out the social media network, not previously.

Friendly World Syndrome: Everyone seems to be more happy and successful than us
Why using Facebook can affect our state of mind making us feel worse? These psycho therapists show that one of our fundamental needs is the social get in touch with. Social connections are an extraordinary resource of comfort. Yet the social media does not offer us the kind of social get in touch with we need to remain healthy and balanced.

One feasible description could be the simple envy. Nevertheless, Facebook enables us to see the success of people with whom we have actually lost contact. Furthermore, in a certain sense, this social network has come to be a collection of bluster, a location where people gather their successes at the workplace as well as in their personal life, upload photos of their fantastic family members, of the costly cars and truck or the phenomenal vacation.

As a matter of fact, this phenomenon has a name: the "pleasant world síndrome", which refers to the propensity to assume that every one of them have a much better life than us. This phenomenon is the result of an impact recognized by sociologists in 1970 called the "considerable world síndrome", according to which, people that saw a great deal of physical violence on television thought the globe was much more terrible than it actually was. Something similar takes place to us with Facebook, looking at pictures and updates, we assume that the others are better than us, which decreases our complete satisfaction with life and might even cause us depression.

Popularity Contest: The friendship paradox
There could be another issue underlying the frustration as well as sadness that generates Facebook, the feeling that everyone is more prominent than us. It is referred to as the "friendship mystery" since, as a rule, our pals have a tendency to have even more buddies than us.

This phenomenon results from an easy mathematical reason: if you're an introvert, there is a great chance that among your good friends there are numerous extroverted individuals, which consequently have numerous friends. It is a prejudice that ends up being a lot more apparent in socials media due to the fact that with a glance at the profile we can know exactly how prominent our close friends are.

This exploration can sadden many individuals making them believe that they are not worthwhile of interest or love from their friends, as well as this might trigger anxiety.

What would happen if you stop using Facebook?
This concern is what some psycho therapists of the Happiness Research Institute of Copenhagen asked themselves, as well as to react to it have hired more than 1,000 customers of this social media. Half of them remained to use the net daily, the other half has actually quit entirely.

It is noteworthy that after only one week, 88% of individuals that have stopped using the social media network reported feeling better, much less upset, more ecstatic, less clinically depressed, as well as more pleased with their lives. In a similar way, it was kept in mind that their stress level has actually decreased by 55%.

These psycho therapists have actually also discovered that we have a tendency to focus on what others have. The research exposed that 5 out of 10 people envy the terrific experiences that others upload on the social media, 1 out of 3 individuals envy the evident joy of others, and 4 of 10 envy the obvious success of others.

Of course, isn't Facebook that is lowering our satisfaction with life as well as makes us really feel bad, but our propensity to face and also the cognitive predispositions that show up throughout the procedure. But the truth stays that the way in which this network is structured greatly helps with such comparisons.

As a result, the most effective option is to concentrate on our reality, beyond the digital profiles, as well as stay clear of comparisons that do not bring anything to us. We have to start to concentrate on what we really need, instead of on what others have.