Whether you love it or hate it, Facebook, and countless other social media platforms, are here to stay. It’s a new part of life in our modern, tech-driven society and culture.
Many fans of social media argue that these sites are just a new way of communicating, and that they can in fact improve our communication. By using Facebook, people actually have the opportunity to connect and keep up with far more people in their lives than they would have been able to fifteen or twenty years ago. And as humans, we do have a need for social interaction – and that’s exactly what social media is for.
Critics aren’t much impressed by that argument. They believe that interacting with people on Facebook and other social media platforms isn’t real socializing. It looks like it, it might feel like it – but there’s apparently no substitution for talking with someone “in real life,” or face to face.
Interestingly, the critics may be on to something. A study published in 2013 shows that the more someone engages with a site like Facebook, the less happy they become with their own lives. And other studies reported on in various popular media outlets associate Facebook with all kinds of negative emotions and affects, including feelings of jealousy and a subsequent reaction to that envy. [Read more…]