The social media they started out as a way to stay in touch with our friends and share happy memories. However, the Results recent research by Kaspersky Lab shows that social media is now making many people feel bad. The 'hunt' for likes plays a central role in this, with the majority of people feeling bad or upset when they don't get the number of likes they want for a post, and with 42% saying they feel jealous when their friends get more likes. Additionally, research shows that people feel jealous when they see their friends' seemingly happier lives on social media.
In a survey of 16.750 people from around the world, Kaspersky Lab identified users' feelings of frustration with social media. People often experience negative emotions when they have spent time on social media due to various events, which indirectly neutralizes its positive effects.
Social network users visit social media for mostly positive reasons and to feel good. Most people (65%) use social networks to keep in touch with friends and colleagues and see fun and funny posts (60%). People also spend a significant amount of time creating digital profiles and fueling it with all kinds of positive moments, noting the things that make them smile (61%), and letting their networks know about the great times they're having during during their holidays and vacations (43%).
While it's no surprise that 72% of people are bothered by the advertisements that have become extremely intrusive and disrupt their online communications, the real reasons for their frustration are much deeper. Despite wanting to feel good about their social media interactions, when people see their friends' happy posts about vacations, hobbies, and parties, they're often left with the bitter feeling that other people are enjoying life more than they are. . For example, 59% felt unhappy when they saw friends' posts from a party they weren't invited to, while 45% revealed that their friends' happy vacation photos had a negative effect on them. Additionally, 37% also admitted that looking back on their old, happy posts can make them feel like their past was better than their current life.
Previous research has also shown people's frustration with social media, as 78% has admitted that it has considered withdrawing completely from social networks. The only thing that makes people stay on social media is the fear of losing their digital memories, such as photos and contacts with their friends. As keeping in touch with friends can be a difficult problem to solve, Kaspersky Lab is working hard to create a comprehensive solution that helps people store their digital memories.
"Our relationship with social media has evolved into a vicious circle. We want to enter our favorite social platforms to share with all our contacts the positive things we do and make us feel good, "commented Evgeny Chereshnev, head of Kaspersky Lab's Social Media. "But the reality is that everyone does the same thing, so when we connect to social media, we are bombarded with pictures and publications of our friends who have fun. And it looks as if they enjoy life more than us. It is easy to understand why this leaves people feeling sad and why so many people have thought of giving up social media altogether. The difficulty is that people feel trapped because so many of their precious memories are stored in social media and do not want to lose access to them. "
To help people decide more freely whether they want to stay on social media or leave it without losing their digital memories, Kaspersky Lab is developing a new application, FFForget, which allows users to back up all of their memories from the social networks they use and to keep them in a safe, encrypted “offcaseThis will make users free to leave any network whenever they want without losing what belongs to them, namely their digital life.
FFForget release is scheduled for 2017.