Facebook is an awesome way to get in touch with family, friends, and even the long forgotten high school classmates and teachers and neighbors. In this fast paced world where you hardly have the time to pick up the phone to ask how your Mom or your best friend is doing; Facebook has become the go to channel for keeping in touch.
For all its great features though, a number of research and studies have proven that Facebook can actually do harm than good, especially when you log in more often. How can something that lets you get in touch with more people than you can remember knowing, regardless of where they are, be actually bad for you? Read on to find out.
Facebook is a real time sink
Facebook is fun, no doubt about it. So much fun, that if you are not careful you can easily spend hours engaging with the social platform. There lies the trouble. Instead of devoting those precious hours working, or looking for a job, you tend to get suck into the vortex of social media sharing. I know from experience what starts as a quick social snack turns into a binge fest of BuzzFeed quizzes, cute cat videos, and stalking friend’s vacation pics.
In the moment it may seem more fun to know what your friends are currently up to than sending out resumes, working on your side project, or any other task. Let’s be honest this is not going to help you succeed. To limit your time on social media have an intent and give yourself a time limit. If your intention is to network to find a new job, then do that and get out.
Facebook can make you feel lousy
Facebook is typically a snapshot of your best moments, and that constant stream of #humbleBrags can start to weigh on you. Oh, your former college friend has just bought an enormous house and a brand new sports car. Wow, your college frat brother just landed an awesome new job. You just noticed that your ex-boyfriend married this really hot model.
Two universities in Germany conducted a recent study presented at an information system conference last February, called the 11th International Conference on Wirtschaftsinformatik. Based on their findings, one in three people actually felt bad after checking into their Facebook accounts, especially after seeing great updates from friends.
Even if you are a normally happy person when you are constantly seeing most of your friends having a fabulous life it can have an impact on your self-esteem and cause you to compare your inside self to everyone’s highlight reel. Constant comparison like this will not help you become the person you want to be. Strive to be a better version of yourself simply because you want to, not because you want to have more bragging rights than your Facebook friends.
Facebook, or any social network for that matter can be a great resource. Like anything in life if you don’t use it in moderation it can have negative impacts. I leave you with this: When you say yes to Facebook you’re saying no to something else. That something else can be being working on your goals, being present, or connecting with someone in real life.
When you say yes to Facebook you’re saying no to something else.
What are your thoughts? Leave me a comment and let me know something you would rather be doing instead of engaging on social media.
Photo Credit: Flickr
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