Delete your account: leaving Facebook can make you happier, study finds

Delete your account: leaving Facebook can make you happier, study finds


Despite all the scandals of the past year, here we are, still on Facebook, a couple of billion of us spending about an hour a day in its iron grip. Now a new study suggests it’s making us feel bad.

That’s in part because we may be addicted. Want to feel better? Delete Facebook. As some experts have said, the system of rewards set up by Facebook and other social media platforms is akin to gambling or substance abuse cravings. Sean Parker, an early Facebook executive, explained that the thought process behind driving user engagement as akin to delivering “a little dopamine hit”.
Video: Facebook is the first thing Mark Zuckerberg says he looks at when he wakes up. Here's how 9 billionaires start their mornings.






























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As with any habitual behavior, you might reasonably expect that abstaining would lead to an improved mood and an overall sense of wellbeing. A new study goes a long way toward suggesting the benefits of cutting Facebook out of our lives altogether.
The study, titled The Welfare Effects of Social Media, from researchers at Stanford and NYU, is being praised as one of the most rigorous to look at what happens to people when they log off. Logging off seems to be as positive as you probably expect it would be, leading to increased subjective wellbeing, less political drama and attention span agitation, and increased time spent with friends and family. On the other hand, it also led to a decrease in awareness of the news. Although, to be honest, that sounds pretty nice too.
To track social media’s effects, the researchers recruited 2,844 Facebook users, then randomly assigned half of them the task of temporarily deactivating their accounts for a month. To ensure compliance, subjects were paid for their efforts, and their accounts were monitored to make sure they weren’t scrolling their timeline on the sly. The authors checked in with them regularly via text to see how they were feeling during the cleanse.
“Deactivation caused small but significant improvements in wellbeing, and in particular on self-reported happiness, life satisfaction, depression, and anxiety,” they concluded. “Effects on subjective wellbeing as measured by responses to brief daily text messages are positive but not significant.”
Gallery: Highs and lows of the social networking giant (Photo Services)



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Slide 20 of 31: Facebook co-founder and chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, speaks at an Oculus developers conference while wearing a virtual reality headset in San Jose, California on October 6, 2016. Facebook unveiled new hardware for its Oculus division as part of a stepped-up effort to integrate virtual reality with the leading social network. The new offerings aim to get an array of virtual reality gear to consumers in the coming months, including a new 'Touch' controller and compatible computer to help spur Facebook's push. / AFP PHOTO / Glenn CHAPMAN (Photo credit should read GLENN CHAPMAN/AFP/Getty Images)

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Slide 26 of 31: European Commissioner for Digital Single Market and Vice President of the European Commission, Estonian politician Andrus Ansip, gives a press conference on the first day of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) on February 26, 2018 in Barcelona. The Mobile World Congress, the world's biggest mobile fair, is held in Barcelona from February 26 to March 1. / AFP PHOTO / LLUIS GENE (Photo credit should read LLUIS GENE/AFP/Getty Images)

Slide 27 of 31: with iphone - September 5, 2011: User holding an IPad with Facebook home page on screen

Slide 28 of 31: WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 16: United Kingdom MP Damian Collins participates in a news conference with American and European counterparts at the Atlantic Council July 16, 2018 in Washington, DC. The news conference is part of a forum titled, 'Pulling at the Strings: The Kremlin's Interference in Elections' and comes on the heels of a summit meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Slide 29 of 31: New York, USA - January 3, 2013: An evening view of the facade of the New York Times Building in Manhattan is located at 40th Street and 8th Avenue in Manhattan. The New York Times is one of the oldest and most widely circulated newspapers in the city. 

Slide 30 of 31: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives to attend a meeting with the French president at the Elysee Palace in Paris on May 23, 2018. - Fresh from saying 'sorry' to European lawmakers, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg holds talks with the president on May 22 where he will face renewed pressure over his company's tax policies. (Photo by ludovic MARIN / AFP) (Photo credit should read LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP/Getty Images)

Slide 31 of 31: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks during a press conference in Paris on May 23, 2018. (Photo by BERTRAND GUAY / AFP) (Photo credit should read BERTRAND GUAY/AFP/Getty Images)

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Since it was launched, Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook has become one of world's most popular social networking websites, with 2.32 billion monthly active users as of Dec. 31, 2018.

Click through for some of Facebook's milestones and controversies over the years.



















































































































































































































































































































































































Furthermore, some of the users who went without Facebook were able to maintain their abstinence after the study concluded.
The study acknowledges there are, clearly, benefits to Facebook and social media at large. Facebook is still, for all its faults, an important means for people to stay connected to friends and family and as a source of information, community, and entertainment, particularly for those who are otherwise socially isolated.
But, they conclude: “Our results also make clear that the downsides are real.
“We find that four weeks without Facebook improves subjective wellbeing and substantially reduces post-experiment demand, suggesting that forces such as addiction and projection bias may cause people to use Facebook more than they otherwise would.”




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