Spent too much time on Facebook again? If yes, you might want to re-evaluate your habit and check on your emotions. According to a recent Danish research, Facebook might have been making you unhappy after all.
In a recent case, Danish researchers chose 1,095 Facebook users and ask them to join their study. The study involves dividing the group into two. One group was allowed to access Facebook normally while half were forced to quit Facebook totally for a week. That case happened for a week and after they have observed that those who have quit Facebook felt less stressed by about 55%.
The participants ranging from 17 to 76 were all questioned thoroughly before the experiment commenced. The questioning involved asking how satisfied they are, how active their social lives are, how easy they found it to concentrate and how much do they compare themselves to others. After that they were then divided into two and the experiment took place.
Meik Wiking who is the CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen said that they looked at a lot of data on happiness and one of the things that they saw that comes often is the fact that comparing oneself to their peers can increase the feeling of dissatisfaction.
Wiking added that Facebook is a constant bombardment of someone's great news, while some looks out the window and find themselves not receiving great news. In Facebook, where everyone seems to be exposing their best side seem even more distortedly bright by contrast, so they wanted to see the effect to users if they took a break away from Facebook.
Participants of the study that were required to stop using Facebook during the duration of the study found it a bit hard at first. They said that Facebook has been a huge part of their lives and that it is almost always the first thing that they check after they woke up.
But a week later, the group who was forced to stop using Facebook reported that they felt more satisfied and had better concentration. They also felt less lonely, less stressed and are more sociable than they were before. When Facebook was removed from the equation, participants were had to talk to their friends and family directly instead of messaging them through Facebook.
Wiking also stated that the next step for their researchers is to assess how long the positive effects of a social media sabbatical will last and what happens when users continue to go on with their lives without using Facebook for extended periods. He said that they would like to try a period of a year perhaps, but they just have to see if they can get volunteers for that and how many they would be.
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