Facebook Usage Makes Users Sad and Unhealthy

Are you a Facebook addict? Do you grab your phone to check your Facebook account while sleeping? Are you feeling sad about your social media presence? Are you the one who can’t go to bed before checking your Facebook Account? Well, my friend, you might be in deep trouble!!

According to a recent research by Yale University and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), people who check their respective Facebook profile more often than those who use the social networking site occasionally, are more likely to feel sad and be unhealthy.

Yes, you read it right!! The researchers found out that increased use of the social media platform, Facebook, was closely linked to ‘compromised social, psychological and physical health’. It also revealed that if a user is updating his profile, linking posts, clicking on links more than the average user, he/she might end up having some mental problems.

The report perfectly highlights the fact that in this modern age, people tend to find solace on social media platforms where they are in command of their activities and are not answerable to anyone. Moreover, this dependence results in lack of sleep that despite being tired, is ignored more than often.

Facebook has been ruling our lives since its inception and there have been many debates on the pros and cons of its usage. While some say that it keeps them up to date with recent happening all over the world and is a perfect time killer, there are others who tend to disagree by highlighting the over-dependence on social media sites and how, opening about your personal lives, can lead to depression among the youth.

There are other cases where people, especially teenagers, were subjected to bullying as they have no idea to tackle these situations, leading to suicide attempts.

However, after all this, there still remains a question. If networking sites like Facebook, leaves such an impact on our lives, then what are the alternatives or solutions we have?

Facebook is a business venture and the owners of sites like these bank in huge sums, shouldn’t we be the ones to limit air usage or dependence in cases like these?

As for the research, pattern of 5,208 Facebook users and their mental health were studied between 2013 and 2015, and the team of researchers investigated the association of Facebook activity as well as real-world social network activity with mental health, self-reported physical health, life satisfaction, body mass index (BMI) of the users. One of the findings also revealed that, “Even one percent increase in ‘likes clicked’, ‘links clicked’ or ‘status updates’ was associated with a decrease of five to eight percent of self-reported mental health”.

This is not the first time that a research has warned about the negative impacts of excessive social media usage but what now?

Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

31st May, 2017
Rohan Jaitly