Even depression can be caused by excessive engagement with Facebook, especially when our friends' posts are causing us envy.
That's it Facebook monitors our Internet moves. A new privacy policy established by the company allows the website to record your activity even when you leave the social networking site. Changing the privacy policy allows the website to gather data from your activity across the Internet while collecting the information that you and your friends post on. According to the British Independent article, after collecting all this information, Facebook distributes them to other sites, such as Instagram.
Granted, the company had announced in November that it was going to enforce this one change, while today it claims that users were notified by e-mails. At the same time it opened a type of public dialogue about the new policy, allowing users to discuss this topic at length. Today, any user who wants to can change the new privacy policy by selecting the relevant settings.
Also, a major American study is banging on Facebook, indicating that using the social networking site can cause envy to users, a feeling that can develop into depression.
Admittedly - reported by Telegraph - everyday millions of people are connected to Facebook. As researchers at the University of Missouri have done the study, this activity affects them emotionally more than they themselves recognize.
Professor Margaret Dafi, who co-authored the study, notes that Facebook's way of using the site plays a key role in how they react to it.
"Facebook can be a good job, a fun and healthy activity, since of course users use it to stay in touch with family members and old friends and to share the important and interesting aspects of their lives. However, if used to see how wealthy an old friend is or how happy he is in his relationship, things that can be jealous, Facebook can even lead to the appearance of clinical depression. "
For the needs of the study, 700 young users of the website answered the scientists' questions. It found that those who used Facebook to see how friends and acquaintances were doing in various aspects of their lives were more likely to report feeling depressed. In contrast, those who used the website simply to stay connected with friends and acquaintances did not show negative reactions.
The comparison
According to the researchers, suspensions for exotic holidays, expensive cars and beautiful homes, as well as happy "cinematographic" families, awaken within us the jealousy, which usually evolves into depression. As Professor Daphie notes, "we have discovered that if users feel envious of the way their friends live or their activities, they usually complain of some symptoms of clinical depression. Facebook can be a very positive thing for many people, but not for those who try through the website to compare the way they and their friends live. "
Η research is published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior.
