How Facebook Causes Depression

How Facebook Causes Depression - Some decades ago, a new type of interaction has actually overcome the world by increasing significantly the means individuals delight in news as well as entertainment: television. At that time television was a huge step for mankind, even if there were individuals who had a different point of view. The poet and dramatist TS Eliot, for instance, specified: "It is a medium of amusement which permits countless people to listen to the same joke at the same time, yet nevertheless, they remain to be alone".

Facebook And Depression

Now you can use the same reasoning to social networks, especially Facebook, which in 10 years has actually gotten to 1.3 billion clients, half of which passes an average of 18 minutes logged. Facebook attaches people worldwide. However, the impact of this social network is not as positive as you could think.

How Facebook Causes Depression


An increasing variety of research studies suggest that the possibility to be "linked" with other individuals does not always indicate to be happier; as a matter of fact, it might negatively impact our mood, because lots of people are connected yet still are alone.

Hereof, psycho therapists of the University of Michigan and also College of Louvain, have chosen to deepen the relationship in between making use of Facebook and also a satisfying life. These researchers asked a group of individuals to state 5 times a day for 2 weeks on their mood. So they located that making use of Facebook is related to a bad health. They additionally located that people say they feel even worse after seeing the social media, not in the past.

Friendly World Syndrome: Everyone seems to be more happy and successful than us
Why using Facebook can influence our state of mind making us feel even worse? These psycho therapists indicate that a person of our fundamental needs is the social get in touch with. Interpersonal partnerships are an extraordinary resource of convenience. Yet the social media does not provide us the kind of social get in touch with we require to remain healthy.

One possible explanation could be the easy envy. Nevertheless, Facebook permits us to see the achievements of people with whom we have actually lost call. Furthermore, in a specific feeling, this social network has actually come to be a collection of bluster, an area where individuals accumulate their successes at the office and in their individual life, upload images of their wonderful family, of the expensive vehicle or the remarkable getaway.

In fact, this phenomenon has a name: the "pleasant world síndrome", which refers to the propensity to believe that all of them have a better life than us. This sensation is the result of an impact identified by sociologists in 1970 called the "significant world síndrome", according to which, individuals that saw a great deal of violence on television believed the globe was much more terrible than it actually was. Something comparable occurs to us with Facebook, taking a look at images as well as updates, we believe that the others are better than us, which reduces our fulfillment with life and might also cause us anxiety.

Popularity Contest: The friendship paradox
There could be an additional trouble underlying the frustration and also unhappiness that generates Facebook, the sensation that everyone is a lot more popular than us. It is referred to as the "friendship paradox" because, generally, our pals tend to have even more pals than us.

This sensation is because of a basic mathematical factor: if you're an introvert, there is a likelihood that among your buddies there are numerous extroverted people, which consequently have several good friends. It is a bias that comes to be even more apparent in socials media since with a glance at the account we can understand just how prominent our pals are.

This exploration might sadden lots of people making them assume that they are not worthwhile of focus or affection from their buddies, and this can create depression.

What would happen if you stop using Facebook?
This question is what some psychologists of the Joy Research Study Institute of Copenhagen asked themselves, and also to reply to it have actually recruited more than 1,000 individuals of this social media network. Half of them continued to utilize the net daily, the other half has quit completely.

It is significant that after just one week, 88% of people that have actually stopped utilizing the social media network reported feeling better, much less upset, extra excited, much less depressed, as well as extra satisfied with their lives. Similarly, it was kept in mind that their anxiety degree has actually decreased by 55%.

These psycho therapists have actually likewise discovered that we often tend to focus on what others have. The study exposed that 5 out of 10 people envy the fantastic experiences that publish on the social network, 1 out of 3 people covet the apparent happiness of others, and 4 of 10 envy the evident success of others.

Certainly, isn't Facebook that is lowering our satisfaction with life and also makes us really feel bad, but our propensity to face as well as the cognitive predispositions that show up during the procedure. Yet the fact stays that the method which this network is structured greatly facilitates such comparisons.

For that reason, the best remedy is to focus on our reality, beyond the digital profiles, and also prevent contrasts that do not bring anything to us. We have to begin to concentrate on what we really need, rather than on what others have.