There are some facts we have to deal with: Facebook is here to stay and it has already had a profound impact on how we view relationships with our peers. Concepts like “facebooking” and “liking” have become fixtures not just in our pop culture but in our personal lives. Facebook is likely to evolve into the ID badge of the future branding your online presence anywhere you go and giving you access to unprecedented amounts of data about the lives of your peers. When you realize you are looking at photos of friends of friends that you’ve never met you should become a bit suspicious about what all of this unlimited data is doing to our heads.
A new study from Stanford suggests that we may not be realizing how Facebook affects us. The study addresses the difference between how we perceive our peers emotions and how we compare our own emotional health. While it doesn’t directly address Facebook as the cause of the misinformation the sort of information we broadcast on the social networking site inspired the study.
The findings show that we grossly overestimate the positive emotions and activities of our friends’ lives assuming that they are happier than they really are. Facebook is central to this idea due to the type of information we choose to post. How often have you had a cool and unique experience and felt the need to snap a photo or shoot off a status update to let your friends know you’re living the good life? Last time I went sailing (which was also the first time) I snapped several photos and uploaded them from my phone just to make sure my friends knew how inferior their Wednesday was. The issue is that when you’re down in the dumps you aren’t as compelled to broadcast that information to all of your “friends.” When we publish the stupid minutia of our daily lives we like to keep it upbeat.
When you’re not feeling as jolly as your news feed Facebook can have a profound effect on how you feel in comparison to your peers. All of those positive posts about what wonderful things your friends are doing create a feeling of isolation and competition for those who aren’t joining in on the fun. The result is that many feel that their peers don’t share their emotional struggles. The study however shows the exact opposite: As far as emotional health is concerned we tend to average the same amount of highs and lows as our peer group. It should be comforting for you to know that misery does usually have company.
Early 20th century philosophers urged the importance of the face-to-face conversation for maintaining humanity across varied cultures. We’ve pretty much danced on their graves with our preference for texting chatting and Facebook stalking over real interaction as means of maintaining relationships. Even the telephone would have been scary for these thinkers much less the fact that if I call you and you don’t answer I’ll likely receive a text in response. According to their theories our increasingly electronic relationships are threatening the very fabric of human existence.
The truth is probably less dramatic but it’s irresponsible of us to be unaware of the way Facebook is changing our culture and our personal interactions. You are more aware of the lives of people you’ve never talked to than ever before and we haven’t had enough time to see what the long-term implications of this constant connectivity are.
If you really want to test the short-term effects you can run your own experiment. Delete your Facebook for a month. I know it’s daunting but keep in mind that civilization has existed for thousands of years without social media. You can probably do without for one month. Evaluate the effect it has on your mood and on your friendships. Are you happier? Does your view of your friend’s lives change? Do you feel left out? You might forget some people altogether without Facebook insisting you know what their status is all the time. This study suggests that social media is probably influencing you and your friendships in ways you don’t realize. I deleted my Facebook a few weeks ago and I’m actually enjoying focusing on my real-life friends. The only downside is that it’s a lot harder to find out if the hot girl who sits by me in my morning class has a boyfriend. I guess I’ll have to ask.