Facebook Good or Bad for Our Health

Christopher Pemberton

Department of Informatics, Fort Hays State University

INF 240: Digital News Reporting

Dr. Ginger Loggins

November 7, 2020

What is Facebook

Facebook is an online media platform that allows people to stay connected to people from their past. This could be a cousin you have not seen since childhood or a former coworker that you worked with before moving to another city (TechBoomers, 2017). With Facebook you can have conversations with those in your network or see pictures of their latest purchase or family vacations, even see what they ate for breakfast or dressed their kids up for Halloween (Kenrick, 2014). Facebook has made staying in touch with those from your past and present life so much easier and quicker (TechBoomers, 2017). Before Facebook you would have to know the other persons address then sit down and hand write a letter then drop that letter in a mailbox. After you mailed the letter you may have to wait weeks to get a response back. Facebook has taken this out-of-date style of conversation and made it to real-time where there is little to no wait and you can do it anywhere you have internet access (TechBoomers, 2017).

Another service that Facebook supplies its subscribers with is a plethora of newsfeeds added to the subscriber’s timeline. A subscriber can learn about new television shows, clothing styles, famous celebrities, sports and so on (TechBoomers, 2017). This way while a subscriber is scrolling to see how that date their old high school friend went on last night went, they can also stay plugged in by getting a snapshot of current events (TechBoomers, 2017). With all these excellent features it is easy to see whey Facebook is one of the largest social media platforms used in the world (TechBoomers, 2017).

Case for Facebook Being Good for Health

In recent years psychology researchers have been studying and trying to investigate any possible connections with our overall health and use of social media websites such as Facebook (Felton, 2020). The overall results of this research have been inconclusive as the research has produced mixed results (Felton, 2020). Some studies show that using Facebook to make social connections can help reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety (Felton, 2020). Facebook helps with this as it supplies a sage space for those people to develop a strong lasting healthy relationship without the added stress and awkwardness of first meeting face to face (Grieve, 2014). It is these types of Facebook connectedness that give the subscriber greater satisfaction with life as well as reduce depression and anxiety (Felton, 2020). Another way Facebook helps with depression and anxiety is through their group feature. These groups consist of a group of Facebook subscribers that are like-minded and can be very useful to the group’s members as they can share personal stories and offer advise on how to deal with certain issues or situations (Felton, 2020).

Research has also been showing that using Facebook to form and develop a close circled of friend or family in your network can also have a positive impact on your physical health as well (Felton, 2020). Some studies have concluded that these groups and close network of friends can help you stay slimmer, sleep better, preserve your memory and even live longer (Felton, 2020). Having a strong inner circle of Facebook friends can even supply a 1 to 3% boost in a person’s overall well-being (Felton, 2020).

Case for Facebook Being Bad for Health

             Just like a coin has two sides to it so does the research about Facebook being good for our health have two sides. Social psychologist Leon Festinger observed that people are compeled to use social media for social comparison. Festinger discusses how Facebook users want to know if they are doing better or worse than the average person (Kenrick, 2014). By looking at other peoples newsfeeds or timelines a user can tell how they stack up both personally and financially to those they may know or in their age demographic Depending on the results this has the potential to make someone feel like life is not fair. This type of comparison can lead a person to start feeling depressed that they may not be successful as their friends or family and can eventually lead to them developing feelings of anger and jealousy towards those people (Kenrick, 2014).

Facebook can also be very addictive just like drugs and alcohol according to the DSM-V (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual). Facebook addiction and attention have grown and caught the attention of other media outlets and journals which has lead to the creation of a Facebook addiction scale. To explore the seriousness of Facebook and social media addiction researchers conducted experiments with users of social media platforms and in short discovered that they craved social media use more that tobacco and alcohol (Kenrick, 2014).

Another negative to using Facebook is you can develop feeling of being left out (Brown, 2017). Along with feeling left out you may feel like nobody like you when you post something on your Facebook page an nobody or a small number of friends click that they like your post (Brown, 2017). This can increase the feelings of loneliness and even down a path to depression.

Conclusion

Subscribers are open to a list of both positive and negative health side effects from using Facebook (Felton, 2020). Each users Facebook health symptoms are related to how they use Facebook in the first place (Felton, 2020). Those who used Facebook to look up past ex’s, or use Facebook relationships to replace real life relationships are more prone to be addictied and suffer from the negative health effects that it can cause. Others that use the social media giant to form close friendships that communicate mostly one on one are the users that are most likely to benefit from the positive health benefits it can provide (Felton, 2020).  Facebook is just like anything in our lives whether it be eating junk food, drinking alcohol or spending time away from your family and friends. It can all be good but in moderation, too much of a good thing is not good.

References

Brown, J. (2017, October 24). 9 Ways Facebook affects your mental health (And what you can do). Retrieved from www.medium.com: https://medium.com/@JBrown/9-ways-facebook-affects-your-mental-health-and-what-you-can-do-b14d46725670

Felton, K. (2020, November 9). Using Facebook is Good for You, According to Facebook. Retrieved from www.health.com: https://www.health.com/mind-body/using-facebook-is-good-for-you-according-to-facebook

Grieve, R. (2014). Face-to-Face or Facebook:Can social connectedness be derived online? Computers in Human Behaviour, Volume 29, 604-609.

Kenrick, P. D. (2014, April 11`). 7 Ways Facebook is Bad for Your Mental Health. Retrieved from www.psychologytoday.com: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/sex-murder-and-the-meaning-life/201404/7-ways-facebook-is-bad-your-mental-health

TechBoomers. (2017, May 30). What is Facebook and How does it Work? Retrieved from www.techboomers.com: https://techboomers.com/t/what-is-facebook