A study was conducted that forced people to quit Facebook to see if it made them happier. As ridiculous as that sounds, the results showed that after a single week, the people forced to quit Facebook felt more contented with their life than before.
In fact, between the group forced to quit Facebook and the control group, the group that had quit Facebook reported enjoying life more, feeling less angry and more enthusiastic, and were more active and satisfied with their social life.
On the other hand, those regularly using Facebook were more likely to feel stressed. The correlation isn’t concrete, but there could be something to it.
Here are five reasons why quitting Facebook might make you happier:
1. Everyone Else Seems Happier Than You Are
From the study, researchers suggest that we may feel less happy using Facebook because Facebook regularly highlights the best of everyone’s life (unless all your friends are moping around most of the time for some reason), therefore causing us to focus on what other people have and leading to our own insecurity.
A quick glance at Facebook might show you how your friends are travelling the world, or visiting charming ‘hipster’ cafes, or celebrating blissful relationships. As the saying goes, “the grass is always greener on the other side”.
Sure, you could curate your news feed, but that’s more of a stop-gap measure and can only take you so far.
2. Decrease In Face-To-Face Interaction
Social media can sometimes eliminate the need to establish the kind of deeper interactions you would get in person with your friends. Facebook makes it really easy to maintain a passing connection by writing on walls and birthday reminders and the such.
Facebook is on track to take over your life with the chat and social apps under its umbrella. And its focus on live events may eventually remove the need to to get out of your house and go to events in person.
Not to mention that with their acquisition of Oculus, and the Gear VR developed with Samsung, Facebook is primed to bring social interaction to virtual reality. In the near future we’ll be interacting in virtual spaces instead of real life.
3. Do You Really Know Your “Friends”?
Speaking of friends, just how well do you know your friends on Facebook?
Chances are you have friends on Facebook you aren’t really close with, or may have never even met before in real life. Whether it’s friends of friends, old secondary school mates that you never really interacted with, or cyber friends.
Some of these “friends” might even be game companies trying to spy on you!
4. No More Privacy
Whether you’re the one being stalked or if you’re the one doing the stalking, Facebook is one of the easiest and most common ways to find out more about someone.
But it’s not just friends and acquaintances looking you up. Almost every app is linked with Facebook now. The information you share on Facebook thus becomes publicly available and that information is monetized for advertising businesses.
5. It’s A Waste Of Time
Let’s face it, Facebook is a waste of time. Remember all the times you have an assignment to work on but you keep changing tabs to check back on Facebook? You check your notifications, reply instant messages, scroll through your news feed and admire your friends’ photos, and before you know it, hours have passed.
Do you know anyone who has quit Facebook that has you contemplating to do the same? Don’t take our word for it, try quitting Facebook for yourself and see how you feel.
