Can Facebook affect emotions? Of course! We supposedly look at Facebook as a way to relax and take time out of our day but over the past few years a lot of my clients have mentioned to me that Facebook makes them feel negative emotions such as sadness, jealousy or perhaps plain just not good enough, so I was pleased to discuss ways to deal with this in an interview with Carina Wolff from Simplemost.com for her article Here’s What To Do If Facebook Makes You Feel Depressed.
Humans are wired to make social comparisons and Facebook gives us access to a huge pool of information about other people that we weren’t faced with before Facebook became so popular. The important thing to remember though is most people only post their best side on Facebook so if you compare your everyday self to other people in their best moments, you are typically going to come up short and a new study from Lancaster University found that comparing yourself with others on Facebook is even more likely to lead to feelings of depression than when you make social comparisons in the real world.
Below are two of my quotes from the article and you can read the whole thing by clicking on the link underneath.
“People are negatively comparing themselves to their friends’ lives, believing that the snapshot of happiness their friends are posting about is reality,” says psychologist Sarah Allen. “It’s not—it’s fiction. What you don’t see is the argument just before the photo as they tried to arrange their kids into the pose. If anyone was to compare their own life with such perfect happiness, I think we would all feel we were lacking.”
“Remember, other people’s lives are not really one long party, but they tend to post about that and not that they went to work, made dinner and collapsed watching TV,” says Allen. “It is important to bring yourself back to the present and ask yourself what you enjoyed about your day. Where did you find your joy?”
Here’s What To Do If Facebook Makes You Feel Depressed
by Carina Wolff, Simplemost.com
I was also interviewed for a similar article about how social media can affect self-esteem which you can read below.
11 Signs Social Media Is Affecting Your Self-Esteem & What To Do About It
by Carolyn Steber, Bustle.com
Sign 10 – When self-esteem is affected, you’ll likely start doubting all your decisions — including small things like what you post online. “You might start asking your partner or friend for reassurance or avoid posting about yourself in case others judge you as harshly as you judge yourself,” psychologist Dr. Sarah Allen tells Bustle. Not a good sign.
If you would like to download a free copy of my booklet called Simple Steps To Overcome Depression please enter your email below and then check your email for the link. I also have free booklets about overcoming Anxiety, Emotional Eating and Postpartum Mood Disorders in the Simple Steps series. Click the links or check my Homepage for details.
