How using Facebook can lead to a roller coaster of emotions
February 9th, 2011 - 2:59 pm ICT by ANI
Washington, Feb 9 (ANI): Does Facebook makes you feel that everyone’s having fun except you? You may be just overestimating your friends’ happiness, suggests a new study.
A Stanford University research has suggested that when we misgauge our friends’ negative feelings, we feel worse about ourselves.
For the study, the researchers examined how college students evaluate their own mood and that of their peers. They foound students greatly underestimated other people’s negative emotions, which in turn increased their own feelings of unhappiness because they felt “less normal.”
“People think, ‘Why am I alone on a Saturday night or why I am not in a relationship?’” he said. “When people overestimate the happiness of friends, they felt more negatively about their own lives,” ABC News quoted lead researcher Alex Jordan, a social psychologist, as saying.
The researchers also found that the majority of students were unable to accurately gauge others’ happiness even when they were evaluating the moods of people they knew well. Not surprisingly, the more students underestimated others’ negative emotions, the more they tended to report feeling lonely.
Junior Kayla Dellefratte from Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. logs off Facebook when she begins to feel frustrated with what she is seeing.
“I see one of my friends living life, their own life, and I feel like stalking their photos is like I’m not living. It’s not a great feeling,” she said.
Catalina Toma, a communications professor at the University of Wisconsin believes passive Facebook consumption (such as monitoring your friends’ newsfeeds) can leave people feeling lonelier than before they logged on.
“People naturally compare themselves to those around them, a process known as social comparison. If you perceive yourself to be doing better than your friends in an area that is important for you the social comparison will make you feel good. However, if you think your friends surpass you in an area that’s important to your self-concept, you will likely feel dejected as a result of the comparison,” she wrote in an e-mail.
The study was published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. (ANI)
- A third of men on Facebook provoke others - Apr 03, 2012
- Facebook photo tells viewers about you - Mar 07, 2012
- Kids who use excess Facebook get low marks in school - Aug 11, 2011
- Powerdrunk people feel taller and bigger - Jan 24, 2012
- How Facebook breeds relationship jealousy - Feb 14, 2010
- Spying on kids' online activities is waste of time - Aug 07, 2011
- Grumpiness 'is good for you' - Feb 27, 2010
- What kind of Facebook user are you? - Feb 01, 2011
- Fear, anger prompt us to share stories, messages - Jul 01, 2011
- New Facebook features not so appealing, says poll - Oct 22, 2011
- Pain of social exclusion can be deep, long-lasting - May 11, 2011
- Positive outlook helps teens tackle anxiety - Jul 13, 2011
- Facebook use, less socialising could make people sadder - Jan 18, 2012
- Money cannot buy happiness - Jul 02, 2010
- What you say about others says a lot about you - Aug 03, 2010
Tags: abc news, alex jordan, college students, consumption, facebook, happiness, having fun, moods, negative emotions, negative feelings, peers, researcher, roller coaster, saturday night, social comparison, social psychologist, stanford university, unhappiness, university in hempstead, university of wisconsin