Research has revealed that the longer you spend procrastinating on the social networking site, the more miserable you will become.
This is because we recognise we're wasting our time on the site, and this lowers our self-esteem.
Researchers from University of Innsbruck in
Austria asked 300 English and German Facebook users to take a series of
tests. The first asked how much time they had spent on Facebook, and to
rate their mood. The second asked some participants to spend 20 minutes
on the social network
The research contradicts Facebook’s own controversial study, published last month, which revealed posts on the site can have a positive and negative effect.
LONELY PEOPLE MORE LIKELY TO OVERSHARE ON FACEBOOK
Australian
researchers from Charles Sturt University in New South Wales, Australia
studied the profiles of 608 female Facebook users.
According to the researchers, ‘half (308) were categorised as “connected” and the remaining 308 users were categorised as “lonely”; based on clearly stating this feeling in their latest wall posting.’
The study then monitored the publicly available aspects of the profile to see if there was a relationship between loneliness and self-disclosure.
Half of those who were categorised as lonely were more likely to include more personal information on their accounts.
This ranged from their relationship status to their address and phone number.
One in eight lonely users also listed their favourite book and film.
According to the researchers, ‘half (308) were categorised as “connected” and the remaining 308 users were categorised as “lonely”; based on clearly stating this feeling in their latest wall posting.’
The study then monitored the publicly available aspects of the profile to see if there was a relationship between loneliness and self-disclosure.
Half of those who were categorised as lonely were more likely to include more personal information on their accounts.
This ranged from their relationship status to their address and phone number.
One in eight lonely users also listed their favourite book and film.
In the first, they were asked how much time they had spent on Facebook that day, before being asked to rate their mood.
The second study asked some of the participants to spend 20 minutes on Facebook doing typical things such as checking their news feed and updating their status.
A second group browsed the web, but did not use social networks, while a third was given no instructions.
All three groups were asked to rate how ‘meaningful’ their overall experience had been.
The findings revealed that in both experiments, people said they felt worse about themselves after using Facebook, because they did not feel it was a good use of their time.
Lead researcher Christina Sagioglou of the University of Innsbruck in Austria said: ‘The meaningfulness actually accounts for the mood effects.
A second group browsed the web, but not social
networks, while a third was given no instructions. The findings revealed
that all participants said they felt worse about themselves after using
Facebook because they did not feel it was a good use of their time
‘It’s not surprising that if you do something you don’t consider very meaningful, you’re not in a good mood afterward.’
Previous studies have found Facebook can make people feel more jealous and lonely.
Australian researchers from Charles Sturt University in New South Wales discovered that female Facebook users who are categorised as lonely are more likely to include more personal information on their accounts.
This ranged from their relationship status, to their address and phone number, while one in eight lonely users also listed their favourite book and film.
Facebook’s own study was heavily criticised when it emerged the company manipulated the news feeds of 700,000 people in 2012 to see what would happen - without telling them first.
