Let’s start with a simple question: “How many hours do you spend looking at a screen?”. Be honest, be clear. Count’em up.
Next question, why do you do it? There will be a lot of reasons, but at the bottom it’s because you are looking for happiness, right?
For that answer, you might want to check out a new study that shows that Facebook and the like do just the opposite. Evidently it doesn’t apply to all cases and it doesn’t mean that we have to burn these things down. Still it’s worth taking a look at. It finds that “regular Facebook use leads to declines in “moment-to-moment happiness” and “overall life satisfaction.” What this really means is this: Facebook is making us lonely, anxious and sad, specifically because we’re always seeing snapshots of other lives that seem to be so much more fun and exciting than our own.” (Source)
Next reason, to stay in touch and know what my friends are doing? Well, maybe it would be better to send them an email, give them a call, or even see them face to face. Remember what this was once like?
Take a minute to read the following written by USA Today columnist Steven Petrow: “I have an old friend who is always posting about all the good things in her family: birthday parties, job promotions, her kids getting into the honor society. Then, when I talk to her she tells a different story – her marriage is shaky, the kids are sullen and resentful. It makes me feel as if everything I see on Facebook is a lie, and it makes me feel bad about my “normal” family. How can I tell her that her fake posts are wrong and that if she can’t post the truth she shouldn’t post at all?”
What? You don’t have a perfect family like everyone else who uses social media? I guess that means you’re a loser (like the rest of us). Just kidding, of course. In fact, what you’re seeing on Facebook isn’t “a lie” (as you put it). It’s just one version of your friend’s truth, and she, like most of us, is putting her best face forward.
Now none of this means that Facebook and social media in general is bad in itself. But, let’s be honest, a good percentage of the time we spend on social media could be much better spent.
To check out the original post with the video present above, click here.
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