how facebook makes us unhappy _ the new yorker
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23/4/2014 How Facebook Makes Us Unhappy : The New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/09/the-real-reason-facebook-makes-us-unhappy.html 1/15
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September 10, 2013
How Facebook Makes Us Unhappy
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23/4/2014 How Facebook Makes Us Unhappy : The New Yorker
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No one joins Facebook to be sad and lonely. But a new study from the University of Michigan psychologist Ethan Kross
argues that that’s exactly how it makes us feel. Over two weeks, Kross and his colleagues sent text messages to eighty-two
Ann Arbor residents five times per day. The researchers wanted to know a few things: how their subjects felt overall, how
worried and lonely they were, how much they had used Facebook, and how often they had had direct interaction with others
since the previous text message. Kross found that the more people used Facebook in the time between the two texts, the less
happy they felt—and the more their overall satisfaction declined from the beginning of the study until its end. The data, he
argues, shows that Facebook was making them unhappy.
Research into the alienating nature of the Internet—and Facebook in particular—supports Kross’s conclusion. In 1998, Robert
Kraut, a researcher at Carnegie Mellon University, found that the more people used the Web, the lonelier and more depressed
they felt. After people went online for the first time, their sense of happiness and social connectedness dropped, over one to
two years, as a function of how often they used the Internet.
Lonelier people weren’t inherently more likely to go online, either; a recent review of some seventy-five studies concluded that
“users of Facebook do not differ in most personality traits from nonusers of Facebook.” (Nathan Heller wrote about loneliness
in the magazine last year.) But, somehow, the Internet seemed to make them feel more alienated. A 2010 analysis of forty
studies also confirmed the trend: Internet use had a small, significant detrimental effect on overall well-being. One experiment
concluded that Facebook could even cause problems in relationships, by increasing feelings of jealousy.
Another group of researchers has suggested that envy, too, increases with Facebook use: the more time people spent browsing
the site, as opposed to actively creating content and engaging with it, the more envious they felt. The effect, suggested Hanna
Krasnova and her colleagues, was a result of the well-known social-psychology phenomenon of social comparison. It was
further exacerbated by a general similarity of people’s social networks to themselves: because the point of comparison is like-
minded peers, learning about the achievements of others hits even harder. The psychologist Beth Anderson and her colleagues
argue, in a recent review of Facebook’s effects, that using the network can quickly become addictive, which comes with a
nagging sense of negativity that can lead to resentment of the network for some of the same reasons we joined it to begin with.
23/4/2014 How Facebook Makes Us Unhappy : The New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/09/the-real-reason-facebook-makes-us-unhappy.html 3/15
We want to learn about other people and have others learn about us—but through that very learning process we may start to
resent both others’ lives and the image of ourselves that we feel we need to continuously maintain. “It may be that the same
thing people find attractive is what they ultimately find repelling,” said the psychologist Samuel Gosling, whose research
focusses on social-media use and the motivations behind social networking and sharing.
But, as with most findings on Facebook, the opposite argument is equally prominent. In 2009, Sebastián Valenzuela and his
colleagues came to the opposite conclusion of Kross: that using Facebook makes us happier. They also found that it increases
social trust and engagement—and even encourages political participation. Valenzuela’s findings fit neatly with what social
psychologists have long known about sociality: as Matthew Lieberman argues in his book “Social: Why Our Brains are Wired
to Connect,” social networks are a way to share, and the experience of successful sharing comes with a psychological and
physiological rush that is often self-reinforcing. The prevalence of social media has, as a result, fundamentally changed the
way we read and watch: we think about how we’ll share something, and whom we’ll share it with, as we consume it. The
mere thought of successful sharing activates our reward-processing centers, even before we’ve actually shared a single thing.
Virtual social connection can even provide a buffer against stress and pain: in a 2009 study, Lieberman and his colleagues
demonstrated that a painful stimulus hurt less when a woman either held her boyfriend’s hand or looked at his picture; the
pain-dulling effects of the picture were, in fact, twice as powerful as physical contact. Somehow, the element of distance and
forced imagination—a mental representation in lieu of the real thing, something that the psychologists Wendi Gardner and
Cindy Pickett call “social snacking”—had an anesthetic effect‚ one we might expect to carry through to an entire network of
pictures of friends.
The key to understanding why reputable studies are so starkly divided on the question of what Facebook does to our emotional
state may be in simply looking at what people actually do when they’re on Facebook. “What makes it complicated is that
Facebook is for lots of different things—and different people use it for different subsets of those things. Not only that, but
they are also changing things, because of people themselves changing,” said Gosling. A 2010 study from Carnegie Mellon
found that, when people engaged in direct interaction with others—that is, posting on walls, messaging, or “liking” something
—their feelings of bonding and general social capital increased, while their sense of loneliness decreased. But when participants
simply consumed a lot of content passively, Facebook had the opposite effect, lowering their feelings of connection and
increasing their sense of loneliness.
In an unrelated experiment from the University of Missouri, a group of psychologists found a physical manifestation of these
same effects. As study participants interacted with the site, four electrodes attached to the areas just above their eyebrows and
just below their eyes recorded their facial expressions in a procedure known as facial electromyography. When the subjects
were actively engaged with Facebook, their physiological response measured a significant uptick in happiness. When they were
passively browsing, however, the positive effect disappeared.
This aligns with research conducted earlier this year by John Eastwood and his colleagues at York University in a meta-
analysis of boredom. What causes us to feel bored and, as a result, unhappy? Attention. When our attention is actively
engaged, we aren’t bored; when we fail to engage, boredom sets in. As Eastwood’s work, along with recent research on
media multitasking, have illustrated, the greater the number of things we have pulling at our attention, the less we are able to
meaningfully engage, and the more discontented we become.
In other words, the world of constant connectivity and media, as embodied by Facebook, is the social network’s worst
enemy: in every study that distinguished the two types of Facebook experiences—active versus passive—people spent, on
average, far more time passively scrolling through newsfeeds than they did actively engaging with content. This may be why
general studies of overall Facebook use, like Kross’s of Ann Arbor residents, so often show deleterious effects on our
emotional state. Demands on our attention lead us to use Facebook more passively than actively, and passive experiences, no
matter the medium, translate to feelings of disconnection and boredom.
In ongoing research, the psychologist Timothy Wilson has learned, as he put it to me, that college students start going “crazy”
after just a few minutes in a room without their phones or a computer. “One would think we could spend the time mentally
entertaining ourselves,” he said. “But we can’t. We’ve forgotten how.” Whenever we have downtime, the Internet is an
enticing, quick solution that immediately fills the gap. We get bored, look at Facebook or Twitter, and become more bored.
Getting rid of Facebook wouldn’t change the fact that our attention is, more and more frequently, forgetting the path to
proper, fulfilling engagement. And in that sense, Facebook isn’t the problem. It’s the symptom.
23/4/2014 How Facebook Makes Us Unhappy : The New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/09/the-real-reason-facebook-makes-us-unhappy.html 4/15
Maria Konnikova is the author of the New York Times best-seller “Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes.” She
has a Ph.D. in psychology from Columbia University.
Photograph by Luong Thai Linh/EPA/Corbis
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23/4/2014 How Facebook Makes Us Unhappy : The New Yorker
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Feb 24, 2014attentionproblem
I think the main issue with Facebook, or any Social Networking Site is how everyone one is connected 24/7. Itisn't natural to know what you're friends are doing all the time and vice versa. "Living in the moment" is't a thinganymore. It is hard form people to sit in a room with a group of friends and enjoy the company they have. SocialMedia gives their users the opportunity to show off their life unrealistically to grab attention from online 'friends'.People don't genuinely enjoy things offline as they show how much they 'enjoy' it online. It's such a backwardsway of life and I am scared as to where the younger generation will be heading socially and emotionally. Im notsaying everyone uses Social Media for this sole purpose; however, this is what I understand from experience.
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I would have to disagree with the first half of this article just because to me it seemed like someone just didn'tanything to do one day and decided to write some crazy idea about Facebook and loneliness. If Facebook wasreally making people's lives so "boring" or "depressed" then why won't they delete their account and make theirdaily activity something else rather than check their Facebook account and searching the web. I would stronglyhave to agree with the second part of the article where John Eastwood and some of his colleagues said that themain reason that people get on the web and get depressed and unhappy is because they don't get any attention.When people are with a group of friends or family or even someone new that they met, they aren't depressed andunhappy because they have the attention that they're getting from their peers. So now, with my point and opinion,i really don't think that Facebook is the cause of unhappiness; it’s the attention that people all around the worldaren't getting. Therefore i think that the first half of this article is just absurd and doesn't have enough evidence toprove that Facebook is the cause of an unhappy person.
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Feb 24, 2014facebookisnottheproblem
@attentionproblem I also don't think that Facebook really causes people's unhappiness; I think thatthose who believe that Facebook causes unhappiness are not using Facebook correctly because asMark Zuckerberg, one of the creators of Facebook, said, they made the site to “make sure [we] couldshare information with the people [we] care about.” As a Facebook user, I do think that using Facebookhas its pros and cons – easier way to stay in touch with people we don’t get to communicate with on adaily basis being a pro, and seclusion from the real world (if the person is on it 24/7) as a con. So Ibelieve that it is up to the Facebook user himself how he uses Facebook, because as it says on thearticle, “Facebook isn’t the problem.”
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Feb 24, 2014Turner_Pham
@facebookisnottheproblem Yeah, I’m going to have to disagree with this comment, becauseFacebook is essentially the problem to society. Like the article said, “Facebook could evencause problems in relationships, by increasing feelings of jealousy.” That feeling jealousy isusually going to lead to people’s unhappiness, even though this creator of Facebook, MarkZuckerberg created this social network to share information with other people. But there arealways fights, and cyber bullying going on, because of Facebook. Like if one were to post astatus, another person can just comment on it, saying mean things, or teasing the otherperson that’ll lead to trouble. Or if he/she posted picture with another person of the oppositegender, that immediately can cause jealousy to any person that likes him/her. But the quoteof “Facebook isn't the problem.” Yeah that isn't the problem? Well it is, because people nowcan easily interact with strangers that have no idea who that person is. Now there are manyproblems with that; one. That stranger could easily be anyone that could endanger your life;two. You will continue to talk behind the computer, and eventually having no interaction withreality, how are you going to talk to others with physical interaction now? Yeah, now it’s aproblem huh.
23/4/2014 How Facebook Makes Us Unhappy : The New Yorker
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Feb 24, 2014typicalasian
@Turner_Pham I agree when you say that Facebook is the problem. Thesedays, people who interact with this social media tend to be like Maria said,"unhappy" and "more alienated". You also bring up a good point that even if MarkZuckerberg manifested Facebook to share information among others, people havedriven this the wrong way. Because of Facebook, many problems have risen. Forinstance, this social media has created jealousy among relationships based onthe pictures or comments being posted. Also, with social media being "addictive"as Maria said, it is making those more isolated from physical interactions we donot see as much anymore. Plus, like what you said, stranger interactions havedeeply increased, thanks to Facebook. This puts others at risk on who to trustand engage with when it comes to interacting face to face. Therefore, yes,Facebook can make us unhappy, as well as unsafe.
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I got bored halfway through this article
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When using social media, we are constantly bombarded with idealized versions of our friends' everyday trivia.While this should normally not be anything to throw us off balance at all, we tend to take everything that's postedat face value. This social benchmarking process that we subject ourselves to contributes in the fewest cases toour uplifting or other productive feelings, but rather to anxiety and discontent: http://wp.me/p46Heg-3N
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I would have to dissagree partially with some of this study. I think although their are studies suggesting thatfacebook increases our overall happiness, its still the prominant conclusion that the majority of people are passiveon facebook which leads to unhappiness. In this sense, we need to either learn how to become more active andlimit browsing our news feeds, or cut our time on facebook. I think the problem here is the fact that as wecommunicate so much via facebook, we lose our interest in speaking to people in real life and when we do, wehave nothing to say to each other because we have already exhausted our words over an online chat. That's a vitalproblem which has to be brought up. I love the idea of bringing older people into the study. I think our previousgeneration are better able to communicate in person and we should not stray from learning to become better atreal physical interaction. Somehow I think that through evolution we are biologically programmed to have reguarphysical social interaction, and now in this social technological age we are beginning to go against this activity.Somehow I dont think virtual acceptance and communication quite cuts it.
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People have to socialize, but they have to do it in person. It would be much better if older people were involved inthe study. For one thing, the usage of social networking may differ between different age groups. Maybe olderpeople experience the opposite outcome when using Facebook.
23/4/2014 How Facebook Makes Us Unhappy : The New Yorker
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Just to add to the mix here, we recently pubished an article (Rosen, L.D., Whaling, K., Rab, S., Carrier, L.M., &Cheever, N.A. (2013). Is Facebook Creating “iDisorders”? The Link Between Clinical Symptoms ofPsychiatric Disorders and Technology Use, Attitudes and Anxiety. Computers in Human Behavior 29, 1243-1254) showing that those who have more Facebook friends AND use the telephone more often actually show fewersigns of both dysthymia and major depression. If you would like a copy email me and I will gladly send you one.
Dr. Larry Rosen (DrLarryRosen.com)
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Facebook has the potential to be a very useful source. Although their should be limits to the amount of usage ofFacebook. People make it their main priority when in reality they are only posting about what they have and whatthey have done throughout the day. If Facebook had not existed people would still be doing the same things dailyand their life wouldn't be affected as much. Facebook actually has the potential to be a useful tool tocommunicate with friends, promote events and products. People need to remove technology as their main priorityor all social media networks will become the center of their life.
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My boyfriend has 2 identities.
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dug
Fine article....Facebook rant - Sad social phenomenon....(almost) everyone desperately posting stuff about howwonderful and cool their life is. It's just not true.....My idea is to start a rival blog, maybe call itBummerBook....you would only post things that were bad, depressing, bummers, that were going on in your life...(sadly, schadenfreude is real)...And, of course, you wouldn't feel compelled to respond to anyone.....(halfjoking...)...
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Why you need facebook and or twiter when you can communicate with your friends and acuaintaces via textmessages, mss, e-mail or simply a phone call . All other social media are obsolete and phony when you have realfriends and well cemented relation with others . When you have that every thing else is getting on the way ofgrooming your spirit and leave some time to take care of what really matters . Social media can be a dangerousenvironment to navigate in it constrict your innate need of freedom and privacy . Celine Dion quoted about thisissue : Don't sell your soul . Be happy in your own terms and within your own principles.
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Sure those doing all these boring studies are completely depressed. Don't know what more or less depressed
23/4/2014 How Facebook Makes Us Unhappy : The New Yorker
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means, terms are too vague to be meaningful. Could say: a smidgin less depressed, a thimble somewhat moredepressed, a nano particle extra melancholia. Also, most of these studies are self- evident, if you are activelyengaged in something useful (not feeling shitty Monica has 5,000 friends and can eat with her feet) like snuff porn,then you will be far less depressed than if you're reading up on 8th Century Popes in Wikipedia. My own feelingabout all this is that all psych and soc experiments should stop being funded so we can all buy more guns. Ifpeople were shot more often for reading facebook, everyone would be happier.
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***** Amazing article - well written and so informative! To all the naysayers - head back to loneliness aka FB.
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I have been very happy not using FB!
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Oh, I do use Facebook. I have an account as a hot 18 year old girl, another as a 21 year old sail boat owner andanother one for pure marketing purposes. Facebook is nice if you don't use any real data, nothing personal andjust to market to thousands of willing sheep. Thumbs up. I like.
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Like any tool - the value from Facebook and other social networking sites depends on how you use them.http://www.socialnetwork.co.uk
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Dear New Yorker,
You are Old Media. Of course you think New Media is bad for us. This is not news. I also don't believe it. Do youreally think it's possible to do,
"Research into the alienating nature of the Internet—and Facebook in particular—"
and not have your bias be confirmed in your result?
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Dec 3, 2013Wormboy
@vaneeesa_blaylo Reading comprehension and understanding of scientific studies double fail.
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A welcomed grace note in the ebb and flow of daily existence, facebook has helped me to keep track of familyscattered across the continent, as well as nurture friendships and acquaintances developed in my travels as an
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educator and scholar. Of course, I could be deluding myself. After all, when have statistics derived from researchtools developed to assess the human soul ever lied?
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I spend a very sizable amount of time on the Internet (browsing; discussion groups; email) - NONE at all onFacebook though I do have an account, I believe. I really am not interested in following anyone (nor do I wish tobe followed by anyone); to put up your thoughts on a public wall appears to me to be exhibitionist - one might aswell go to Times Square and drop one's pants there. What's the difference? What makes you think anyonewishes to know your ideas in 140 characters or less? Are they worth telling at all?
Facebook is, I believe, designed for people who are in any case bound to be alienated - from society, from othersaround them, even from themselves. Congratulations Mark Zuckerberg for having fooled the world into followingyou - but no thanks.
GSC
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From a research angle, if those questions about feelings, etc were all they asked, it's possible that demand biasshaped the results of the study rather than this being an actual finding. The competing findings in 2009 and 2010(not too long ago to be discounted) give this possibility additional credence. I do believe the research conclusionsof Dr. Kross are correct (from a personal view of observing interactions of others - which are I admit scarcelyscientific), however, from a professional researcher perspective, there are some holes in the data that warrantfurther investigation. @AnalyticsOC
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I agree with MelHuson - I don't use Facebook for my personal life, although I do share a small glimpse of it. Ithelps people get to know me a little and that is a good way to build trust. Think about face to face networking, ifeveryone we met told us about all aspects of their lives it would not only be overwhelming, it would likely be a bigturnoff for most people. Facebook has allowed people to take the mystery out of getting to know one another. Weknow so much about one another (at least in most cases) that there is no mystery. Add to that people sharingpictures of themselves doing strange things - that years ago would only be shown to our best friends (andcertainly not our mothers). I do like Facebook as it does give great insight into people but more often than not Iuse it to eliminate vendors and service professionals.
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It's not Facebook that's on the beach every other month. It's those 344 damned "Friends" of mine.
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The problem is partially facebook, but individuals need to share some of the blame as well. Facebook gave us anoutlet to stay in touch with people we have difficulties connecting with on a semi-consistent basis, but we havetaken it to an extreme by using it solely as our personal lives to stay connected with everyone. We share thingsgoing on in our lives and any special activities we've participated in, and for those extreme few even share theminute details like what they've eaten that day. By the time we actually see someone and spend time with themin a personal way, they're already caught up on our lives. We need to bring facebook back to its original intent:using it to contact people we have difficulties connecting with, but keep our personal, close relationships.
23/4/2014 How Facebook Makes Us Unhappy : The New Yorker
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The problem is not FB. The problem is that people are using electronics as a buffer to reality. People's view of theworld is now translated by electronics. they are no longer connected person to person. Our electronics areconnected to each other's electronics. Everything is customized to the individual experience. There are fewer andfewer 'we's" and many many more "I's". No wonder people are lonely. That's a lot of insecure "I's" out there,trying to feel accepted by electronic groups. Last time I checked, none of these electronic items had a pulse. Soif one is not secure in their view on people to begin with, how are they supposed to not be lonely on line too? Ipersonally really like social networks and have made many more friends on line than I ever could have person toperson snail time. But many of these people who I have met face to face for business, and the on line has beena positive first introduction. On line might be just that - a good place to introduce ourselves to others. Butrelationships exist in the real world - face to face. People looking for FB or any other social network, to be morethan acquaintances will be disappointed, because the human spirit thrives on relationships. We all need abalance of reality and real people in our lives to keep us healthy and happy.
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Sep 13, 2013fuzzmello
@chettaBev I liked your comment so much I posted it on my Facebook wall. What's up with that?
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To be satisfied, all human senses need to be involved. However needs change constantly. So there should be anice combination of online and offline with facebook. The beauty of facebook is to connect. Maybe it will be wiseconnect via facebook online and balance it with sometime offline with your facebook friends.
Remember we are human - animals. not machine. we need instant physical interactions to be satisfied
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Be careful of what you write on Facebook. Deviate from PC and you'll be suspended for 12 hours. Libs are alwaysfirst to censor. Why is that?
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Like Facebook or not, it will one day be the #1 killer of urban pedestrians.
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I tried to read this article, but it interrupted my Facebook addiction too much, so I quit. In fact, Facebook is theonly book I read now.
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Screens are the opium of the 21st century.
23/4/2014 How Facebook Makes Us Unhappy : The New Yorker
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Sep 12, 2013sam77
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Sep 13, 2013socialnetwork
@Avis Pretty much true. I have given up the fight as a 30 something and have gone whole hog andbehave the younger generation. My concentration span is much reduced, I need a WiFi or 3Gconnection more than I need food and shelter and I'm glued to a screen or a variety of sizes from themoment I wake up to the second I go to bed. http://www.socialnetwork.co.uk
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The problem is not Facebook. It's easy to point the finger at a massive entity and blame it for all of life'sproblems. But it's not their fault, and to be honest, I believe that Mark Zuckerberg is a genius. He connectspeople from around the world, gives them a venue to share their thoughts, experiences and create lifetimeconnections. Used correctly FB is an amazing tool. But that's the problem. It's just a tool, and not a realfriendship. I've been researching and tracking the trend of increasing anxiety, sense of loneliness and depressionwith the increased use of FB, and what it boils down to is that people need to make real life, face to faceconnections. They need to go outside, breath fresh air, and reconnect offline.
I'm from Vancouver, Canada. Vancouver is one of the most beautiful cities on earth. Because of it's beauty,climate and location, Vancouver is also one of the most expensive places to live in the world, which leads to a lotof homelessness and a very high cost of living. What surpasses both previously mentioned issues is loneliness. This is becoming a real problem, and because so many of my female friends were feeling alienated and alone, I'vespent the last two years building a site called lunchwiththeladies.com. It's a safe place for women to be matchedwith other women to build friendships, find a mentor/ mentee, and sell, trade, give anything away that they're nolonger using.
It's a small step in the right direction by my estimation. I just didn't want to be one of the people pointing my fingerat FB and saying their evil, only to log on 5 min later to find out what my friends are up to, I'm trying to make adifference and balance a scale that is so far off kilter, that i'm not sure if anyone really knows where level isanymore.
Anyway, I know that I'm totally plugging my website, but I think that people trying to make a difference shouldspeak up. I'm doing my best to help affect change, and I'm trying to compliment what FB has to offer. In allreality FB is here to stay, and that's great. But we need to help ourselves at the same time.
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Sep 12, 2013snarfyguy
@sam77 You had me going until you used the term "mentee." In Greek mythology, Mentor was theguy Odysseus parked his kid with when he went off to the Trojan War. So a mentor isn't someone whoments others and there's no such thing as a mentee!
Sorry, pet peeve.
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Sep 12, 2013sam77
@snarfyguy
Hi Snarfguy, I do understand what you are saying, however it is a common term in todaysenglish.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mentee
men·tee noun \men-ˈtē\Definition of MENTEE: one who is being mentored : protégéOriginof MENTEEmentor + -eeFirst Known Use: 1965
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Sep 12, 2013pearlu
Sep 13, 2013gschandy
http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/mentee
Definition of mentee in EnglishmenteePronunciation: /mɛnˈtiː/noun
a person who is advised, trained, or counselled by a mentor.
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@sam77: Well, sam77, I have a VERY different opinion about FB than have you - but I do agree thatMark Zuckerberg is a genius: he created something that managed to capture all the suckers in theworld! Which is surely quite an achievement.
Was it Barnum or Bailey or someone else who said, "There's one born every minute!" ??
By the way, I believe you must be trying to 'complement' FB, not 'compliment' it. Whatever, I dosincerely wish you all the very best.
GSC
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Sep 13, 2013sam77
@gsc @sam77 Thanks GSC, I appreciate your support and thank you for the grammaticalcorrection. You're right, I did mean complement. Must be more careful when writing andsleepy. Have a great weekend.
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No Duh.... of course Facebook (a fake LED based alternate reality) makes us unhappy... in fact, its not Facebook(which would make anyone unhappy all on its own) but rather, the LED glowing gadgets that have a largepercentage of our nation (and the world to a lesser extant) hopelessly addicted. Like any addiction, the addictsare passionate in their denial, and will put forth amazing rationalizations and vigorous defense of their unhealthybehavior.
Go out to a concert, a bar, even driving on the highway, and you will see the blue glow on sapped faces, eyeslighting up as they 'touch screen' from inanity to inanity. Make no mistake, the folks who are actually having fun inlife don't have time for such non-sense. Watch the flock of drones all hold their 'smart' phones in the air, trying toget a vid or pix of the guitar player, drummer, whatever.
Its the opposite of Zen -- is there a word for that?
Why did we let these devices into our lives without questioning what affect they can have? Why do adults let theirchildren make goo goo eyes at these things all the live long day. A radical change in human interaction and likelemmings many of us don't even ask the question.
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Sep 12, 2013
Sep 13, 2013
theOracle
gschandy
@pearlu Nez.
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23/4/2014 How Facebook Makes Us Unhappy : The New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/09/the-real-reason-facebook-makes-us-unhappy.html 14/15
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stephc
chandagohra
RonR_ATX
katjo510
FranRussell
OpheliaLearnstoSwim
@pearlu: The 'opposite' of Zen: Facebook!! (I wish I could boldface that).
GSC
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It's probably all of the ads, sponsored stories, etc. And the extreme violations of our privacy that subconsciouslyare making you unhappy. Maybe you should finally switch over to Ravetree.
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It makes kids miserable: http://quib.ly/qu/can-facebook-make-you-miserable
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I think the data shows they were unhappy because of the 5 times per day he intruded into their lives asking "howtheir subjects felt overall, how worried and lonely they were, how much they had used Facebook, and how oftenthey had had direct interaction with others since the previous text message".
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Whether or not this study has any merit, I can say from a personal point of view that since I have been onFacebook (which I seldom use) and have used the internet as a source of news, I have become more depressedthan usual. I make it a point to go outside, walk my dog, greet my neighbors, and make human contact wheneverI can in order to not get sucked into the vortex of the internet experience.
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One wonders whether studies might show that people who perform studies tend to feel more or less studious,depending on who's doing the studying. Has it occurred to TNY to commission a study of TNY readers who wasteinordinate amounts of time reading & responding to each other's blog postings? And can I get paid for this?
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As this describes the study, there is no way that cause and effect can be distinguished from one another. Withoutfull psychological profiles on the participants, they can't know whether the ones who reportedly became depressedafter Facebook didn't actually turn to it or some other form of social media, to begin with, because they werefeeling lonely and depressed.
Similarly, the reaction of "feeling disempowerment" when one looks at the lives of one's friends on FB sounds tome to be more in the realm of psychopathology than some sweeping effect of social media. Such reactions couldhappen, in an unhealthy individual, in *any* social realm. As to the return to high school behavior with interactionson FB, I would think it's not the nature of FB that causes this but the maturity level (or lack thereof) of theparticipants, and, again, this kind of behavior could happen in any social iinteraction with those specificpersonalities.
The title here, "How Facebook Makes Us Unhappy," is just as misguided as the elements she discusses. Whois this "us"? Include yourself, if you wish, but don't include me in your fearmongering.
It seems to me that, lately, the quality of these articles has taken a giant step backwards.
23/4/2014 How Facebook Makes Us Unhappy : The New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/09/the-real-reason-facebook-makes-us-unhappy.html 15/15
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Sep 12, 2013
Sep 13, 2013
pearlu
gschandy
@OpheliaLearnstoSwim
Quite simply ...you are wrong, almost sentence by sentence.
No one should be surprised to find out that the addictive LEDs that have inundated our society are adelivery system for unhappiness in the form of alienation and faux-connectivity.
Denial much?
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@@OpheliaLearnstoSwim: The *underlying truth*, Ophelia, is that - in any complex system - it is well-nigh impossible to find out accurately the specific 'cause' of any outcome. It IS possible to find out"CONTRIBUTORY" factors for many outcomes. 'Facebook' is surely a complex system, embeddedwithin a complex societal system.
Other than that, 'pearlu', who has also commented to the effect that "you are wrong, almost sentenceby sentence" is entirely wrong him-/herself.
GSC
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