Despite the practical benefits we are afforded by social media platforms, like finding interesting news stories and keeping up-to-date with your baby nephew’s first steps, there is also a common belief that they are bad for us. This may be well founded – recent research has showed that depression, anxiety, loneliness and body insecurity are all connected to regular social media use.
Facebook in particular has come in for criticism. A study in 2013 showed that Facebook usage was linked to both a short-term decrease in subjective wellbeing and a longer-term decrease in life satisfaction. A 2012 study found that ‘the longer people have used Facebook, the stronger was their belief that others were happier than themselves’. Another, from 2009, found that Facebook ‘may be responsible for creating jealousy and suspicion in romantic relationships’.
