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Study: Staying off Facebook can make you happier

qz.com

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Re: Study: Staying off Facebook can make you happier

#41

Post by FussyZeus »

Every time I see one of these studies I just laugh. As if Facebook is something that is used universally in a single way and can be determined to be good or bad.

Speaking as someone who has a ton of friends (actual friends) who I only get to see once or twice a year, Facebook is a godsend. It let's us stay in touch with people we care about who live on the other side of the planet.

Yeah, if you use it as a meterstick on how "good" you're doing at life, of course it's going to make you depressed. Same goes for if you watch HDTV and do that. If you spend all your time looking at the things and lusting after the things you DON'T have, how the hell could you possibly be happy!?

And to the people complaining about clickbait, the simple fact is Facebook wants you to stay on Facebook which means if you get a shitload of clickbait, you're probably clicking a shitload of clickbait. I dedicated about a month of my daily use and deliberately hid every single clickbait-y link, photo, etc. as well as unliked pages that posted that shit at ANY time. This culled me down to a selection of pages that actually post interesting stuff, and to the friends (and what they post) that weren't clickbait. Sure, I get one every once in awhile but I'd say it's down to about 1 in 40 posts are something crummy, and every time I get it, I hide it. Facebook's news feed is actually extremely well curated, it's just designed to give you things that you will pay attention to, positive or negative attention counts.

Just my two cents of course, your mileage may vary, etc.

Re: Study: Staying off Facebook can make you happier

#43

Post by AnimalMuppet »

untog wrote: post #36
cortesoft wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously. My lack of desire for lots of social interaction is just a feature of my personality, it isn't something to be proud of or brag about.

(This is off topic but) there's probably something fascinating to be studied about it. The assumption I've heard a number of people make is that their anti-socialness means that they read more, code more, and as such it's actually a positive quality that elevates them above others. Even as someone who can be antisocial themselves, I think it's a load of bunk, and it's sort of interesting to see human interaction bein…

I go both ways on this.

On the one hand, I can think fairly deeply. Yes, I do regard that as a positive quality. And yes, a lot of social interaction gets in the way of that. ("Interruptions shatter mental momentum" - I forget who said it, but when you're trying to think deeply, it's really true.)

On the other hand, I need human interaction - maybe not as much as most other people, definitely not all the time, but I need it. I need to be able to be a person, not just a thinking machine.

So maybe I'm "unsocial" without being "anti-social"...

Re: Study: Staying off Facebook can make you happier

#44

Post by jayvanguard »

untog wrote: post #25

Agh, this thread is just full of people boasting about their immunity to interest in Facebook. Congratulations, you're fantastic, oh that we could all be as enlightened as you. Personally, I find that Facebook has become my address book - while I still text people I see every day, Messenger group chats are often used instead. Plus the voice and video calls have been a great way to keep up with people further afield.…

I'm Not on Facebook is the new I Don't Own a TV.

Re: Study: Staying off Facebook can make you happier

#45

Post by rodgerd »

brickmort wrote: post #2

I deleted my Facebook account after realizing that every time I would go on it, the clickbait and mindless minutia would irritate me more than entertain me. between the advertisements, there would be 'you'll never guess what happens next!' posts, then political propaganda, then children/marriage updates on people I hadn't interacted with in years. At a certain point, I realized that it wasn't even fun to me anymore,…

I wonder if you could set up a private Flickr group for photo sharing and encourage family to participate there.

Re: Study: Staying off Facebook can make you happier

#46

Post by subpixel »

I deleted my FB account almost a year ago for a couple reasons. One of which is the sheer insanity of a single corporation knowing so much about us all and our relationships. Another is that checking Facebook all the time became a bad habit, like a twitch, something I felt the urge to do but then got no relief through doing. Another is probably spite - a rejection of the idea that having a FB account is necessary, something to be taken for granted.

Some observations:

- I have no idea what's going on in the lives of many people I'm not in close contact with. I have no problem with this.

- My wife tells me about extended family stuff, and shows me the occasional photo. I'm okay with this.

- Instagram has replaced FB to a great degree, for me. But instead of being built around a growing social graph, my Instagram experience is built around a handful of friends and networks of interest. But my usage is nothing like the way I used FB. I post only when I have something to share, and I open the app probably once a week to peruse. I miss tons of stuff, and I'm okay with that.

- I'm involved with a bunch of athletic groups that use FB for events and communication. This is a problem. The degree to which FB has replaced email in this regard is crazy to me. I hope Slack etc. will prove effective at minimizing this.

- I'm launching a business soon and I was concerned that I'd _need_ to be on FB in some commercial capacity. But I honestly think that era is over. Other companies in my industry have anemic feeds that point to the low, low level of engagement through that channel.

- When I feel the need to waste time, some remnant of the FB 'twitch', I look at old faves like englishrussia.com or subject-matter porn like landandfarm.com or everydaycarry.com

- I call/FaceTime my mom more often.

Re: Study: Staying off Facebook can make you happier

#47

Post by sotojuan »

untog wrote: post #25

Agh, this thread is just full of people boasting about their immunity to interest in Facebook. Congratulations, you're fantastic, oh that we could all be as enlightened as you. Personally, I find that Facebook has become my address book - while I still text people I see every day, Messenger group chats are often used instead. Plus the voice and video calls have been a great way to keep up with people further afield.…

http://messenger.com/

The best thing Facebook ever did was separate the useful messenger from the terrible main site.

Re: Study: Staying off Facebook can make you happier

#48

Post by developer1 »

Kronopath wrote: post #28

Note that the study only tracked people for a single week, so it's likely that while it does show a positive improvement on moment-to-moment happiness, it neglects other longer-term effects like, possibly, social isolation from cutting yourself off from a major communication medium.

This "study" isn't a study at all. One week provides factually meaningless data. You'd need a minimum of 3 months just to register a new baseline, and another 6-12 months to see if those participants who originally found a higher baseline at 3 months maintain it or fall back to previous levels as the novelty of the situation wears off.

You want to know why people reported feeling better? Because they changed a habit. When you change anything in your life for a single week, you will feel better because you have pulled yourself out of your everyday routine and are experiencing something NEW. This is the result of a change; what changed - Facebook in this case - does not matter.

The novelty of a change in habit for a single week does not even begin to offer evidence of anything. This isn't even a case of "not enough evidence", but rather "no evidence whatsoever". This novelty is similar to the kind of high you get from buying a new expensive toy/gadget. A temporary boost of "happiness" that quickly fades as the new item just becomes another object in your day-to-day life.

Re: Study: Staying off Facebook can make you happier

#50

Post by [deleted] »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #43
untog wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(This is off topic but) there's probably something fascinating to be studied about it. The assumption I've heard a number of people make is that their anti-socialness means that they read more, code more, and as such it's actually a positive quality that elevates them above others. Even as someone who can be antisocial themselves, I think it's a load of bunk, and it's sort of interesting to see human interaction bein…

I go both ways on this. On the one hand, I can think fairly deeply. Yes, I do regard that as a positive quality. And yes, a lot of social interaction gets in the way of that. ("Interruptions shatter mental momentum" - I forget who said it, but when you're trying to think deeply, it's really true.) On the other hand, I need human interaction - maybe not as much as most other people, definitely not all the time, but I…

[deleted]
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