(Dave Westrich)
(Dave Westrich)
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Honestly, I’m not a fan of social media and never have been.  I’m not interested in, nor do I want to know every person’s little whim, thought, rant or philosophical view.  It’s only because my job requires me to be involved in certain social media that I am.  Now there’s news that affirms my natural instincts about social media – a study’s results show that spending time on facebook depresses our moods.

This study, conducted by two psychologists at the University of Innsbruck in Austria, finds that the time we spend on facebook can make us feel a little depressed even if we don’t have a reason to feel sad.  Why?  The researchers say that the more time we spend on facebook, the more we realize that we’re engaging ourselves in something that’s not meaningful.  In turn, that realization makes us feel a little “down.”

A noticeable dip in mood was noticed when participants in the study spent a significant period of time on facebook.  The researchers concluded that, “Although facebook is an excellent tool for …staying in touch with acquaintances, there are serious disadvantages of using it, such as envy, lowered life satisfaction of basic psychological needs and dampened moods.”

However, this is not the first study on this issue.  Others have been done with very similar results.  (see video)

So what should we all do about this?  The solution is obvious.  Spend more time face-to-face with your friends and family instead of in virtual facebook la-la land.  I LIKE that solution!

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