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The effect of deactivating Facebook and Instagram on users' emotional state

nber.org

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Re: The effect of deactivating Facebook and Instagram on users' emotional state

#31

Post by rich_sasha »

First, I was an avid Facebook user. I cared about what photos I put up, my status updates, what groups I was in, the lot.

Then life got busy and somewhat difficult, and I had no more time for this. Still, I'd occasionally go on Facebook and get really down. I'd see all my "friends" living it up, having fun etc while I was stuck in my rut. Very depressing.

But then, a few things happened. One, I understood it's really all fake. Two, all my real human friends stopped using Facebook, basically. And anyway, Facebook now just shows me AI slop that is nothing to do with anything - weird videos, people definitely shutting down a 5000 year old family business, you-wont-believe-what-she-did videos etc. Not that I use it much, just some friends for whatever reason are still on Messenger.

Re: The effect of deactivating Facebook and Instagram on users' emotional state

#32

Post by nehal3m »

perching_aix wrote: post #27
nehal3m wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember when the feed was just a reverse chronological list of stuff you told Facebook you wanted to see? That was the peak. Once they started engagement farming using recommendation algorithms the site lost all of its appeal.

Append ?sk=h_chr at the end of its URL to get that. Can also be found by dumpster diving in the UI somewhere I'm sure. Be aware that they're very intent on redirecting you to the regular feed though.

Thanks for the genuinely useful tip. I didn’t know that was a thing, but I can’t test it since I deleted my account almost a decade ago. I’m tired of adversarially wrestling usefulness out of a trillion dollar company.

Re: The effect of deactivating Facebook and Instagram on users' emotional state

#33

Post by the_cat_kittles »

noncoml wrote: post #15
countWSS wrote: post #13

Anecdotal: Stopping commenting on reddit reduced emotional stress significantly. Reddit is one of those "social" anti-social circles where you can't afford to be on the "wrong side of argument" and every discussion can quickly spiral out.

Same with stopping replyhing to HN. I just downvote and upvote. Emotional stress significantly reduced.

but then.... how did you say this!?!?!! and how will you answer this question!?!???!???!

Re: The effect of deactivating Facebook and Instagram on users' emotional state

#34

Post by kacesensitive »

perching_aix wrote: post #18
SamvitJ wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the paper PDF ( https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w33697/w336... ): > We estimate that users in the Facebook deactivation group reported a 0.060 standard deviation improvement in an index of happiness, anxiety, and depression, relative to control users. The effect is statistically distinguishable from zero at the p > We estimate that users in the Instagram deactivation group reported a 0.041 stand…

Perhaps it wasn't clear what I meant. When I said significantly, I meant it in the colloquial sense, not in the statistical significance sense. I was looking for a more digestable figure describing the extent of improvements, not whether the study found them confidently distinguishable (which I just assumed they did based on the wording, good to know they didn't for Instagram).

A 0.060 standard deviation improvement is super small. If the average person rates their happiness/anxiety/depression score at, say, 50 out of 100, and the standard deviation (how spread out people’s scores are) is around 10 points, then 0.060 SD = 0.6 points. So quitting Facebook gave an average person a ~1% bump in mood score. Instagram was even smaller: ~0.4 points, or 0.8%.

It's real, but barely noticeable for most people—unless you're in a more affected subgroup (e.g. undecided voters or younger women). Your experience feeling way better likely means you were an outlier (in a good way).

Re: The effect of deactivating Facebook and Instagram on users' emotional state

#35

Post by LeafItAlone »

noncoml wrote: post #15
countWSS wrote: post #13

Anecdotal: Stopping commenting on reddit reduced emotional stress significantly. Reddit is one of those "social" anti-social circles where you can't afford to be on the "wrong side of argument" and every discussion can quickly spiral out.

Same with stopping replyhing to HN. I just downvote and upvote. Emotional stress significantly reduced.

>Same with stopping replyhing to HN. I just downvote and upvote.

I can’t really put my finger on why, but I don’t think I believe you.

Re: The effect of deactivating Facebook and Instagram on users' emotional state

#36

Post by drilbo »

ryandrake wrote: post #29

50 years from now, we are going to be looking back at Social Media and Smartphone addiction like we currently look at smoking. “How insane were we to have allowed it and allowed it to be promoted?” our grandchildren will rightly ask!

tbf, I think pre-AI social media will barely receive a paragraph in a 2075 history book.

Re: The effect of deactivating Facebook and Instagram on users' emotional state

#37

Post by steventhedev »

perching_aix wrote: post #9

> People who deactivated Facebook for the six weeks before the election reported a 0.060 standard deviation improvement in an index of happiness, depression, and anxiety, relative to controls who deactivated for just the first of those six weeks. People who deactivated Instagram for those six weeks reported a 0.041 standard deviation improvement relative to controls. Can anyone translate? Random web search find sugge…

It means that there is a statistically significant improvement, but that improvement is tiny, and will not make you happier than your peers all by itself (assuming a standard peer group of 200 people - you'd likely swap places with 1 or 2 people).

Of course, this study only considered normative people, not marginalized or those who were experiencing active harm from exposure to social media - your personal results may vary and it's important to remember that science is imperfect and social sciences are doubly so.

If going off Facebook improves your life - you do you.

Re: The effect of deactivating Facebook and Instagram on users' emotional state

#38

Post by whatnow37373 »

noncoml wrote: post #15
countWSS wrote: post #13

Anecdotal: Stopping commenting on reddit reduced emotional stress significantly. Reddit is one of those "social" anti-social circles where you can't afford to be on the "wrong side of argument" and every discussion can quickly spiral out.

Same with stopping replyhing to HN. I just downvote and upvote. Emotional stress significantly reduced.

Your comment is proof to the contrary. You are thus lying and everything you say or do is now severely tainted. I will now produce a seven-pronged argument for why exactly this type of behavior is the hidden root cause of climate change and why you should feel bad. (/s)

Sorry, couldn’t help myself.

I know the feeling, but I have to admit that people being obtuse helped me to take them and myself less serious. That said, there are better ways to foster that kind of experience.

Re: The effect of deactivating Facebook and Instagram on users' emotional state

#39

Post by whatnow37373 »

the_cat_kittles wrote: post #33
noncoml wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same with stopping replyhing to HN. I just downvote and upvote. Emotional stress significantly reduced.

but then.... how did you say this!?!?!! and how will you answer this question!?!???!???!

Bring out the pitchforks!!

Re: The effect of deactivating Facebook and Instagram on users' emotional state

#40

Post by mmooss »

perching_aix wrote: post #9

> People who deactivated Facebook for the six weeks before the election reported a 0.060 standard deviation improvement in an index of happiness, depression, and anxiety, relative to controls who deactivated for just the first of those six weeks. People who deactivated Instagram for those six weeks reported a 0.041 standard deviation improvement relative to controls. Can anyone translate? Random web search find sugge…

If I understand you, just read the paper for its analysis and interpretation of those numbers.

Alternatively, you'll want to grasp the meaning of "standard deviation" (you're right that you can't multiply all standard deviations by a number and get a percentage - and a percentage of what?), and then find the "index of happiness, depression, and anxiety" they use and grasp its meaning.

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