…confirmed what was already obvious.

Five years ago, H.B. Shakya and N.A. Christakis published their study about “Association of Facebook Use With Compromised Well-Being”. Five years later, I have a tiny feeling that it may be useful to list its most interesting findings, in the simplest possible way:

1. “overall, the use of Facebook was negatively associated with well-being”
2. increases in the numbers of:
   • “likes clicked” (clicking “like” on someone else’s content),
   • “links clicked” (clicking a link to another site or article),
   • or “status updates” (updating one’s own Facebook status)
   • was associated with a decrease in self-reported mental health
3. “Exposure to the carefully curated images from others’ lives leads to negative self-comparison, and the sheer quantity of social media interaction may detract from more meaningful real-life experiences”

What else? Just one thing

The only, equally obvious thing that is missing from that report, and not its fault of course, is this:

those findings apply to EVERY “social media platform” that is built on the same criteria, that is user addiction.

Sources of quotes and images, and suggested reading:

• Facebook And Mortality: Why Your Incessant Joy Gives Me The Blues Using Facebook actually makes you feel depressed, research says