Social networks and sociability

At the end of last year, I made a crucial decision for my own mental health and left Facebook.  The general atmosphere toward me within Lincoln was slanderous, threatening, and exclusionary, and my continued presence on the social network resulted in my feeling ironically detached, unwelcome, and downright unloved.

Since my profile still has relevant contact information on my info page, though, I decided not to delete my profile and instead just scramble my password and delete all saved instances of it from the computers I had previously logged in on.  I haven't received any text messages or IMs from any Facebook friends yet, but I figure that if it's really important that they get in touch with me, they'll make the effort.  If they don't try to get in touch, well, then it obviously shouldn't concern me.

Obviously, I miss some of the interactions I had on the site, but I do have to admit that my life has felt a lot more serene since abandoning it.  And, as it turns out, I'm not the only person to discover that Facebook has a negative impact on mood.  Daniel Gulati of Huffington Post wrote an article outlining some of the ways in which prolonged activity on Facebook reduces the perceived meaningfulness of our days.  In addition to driving us from close relationships to online correspondence, Gulati notes that Facebook is a place where people spend more time writing about their achievements and milestones than their shortcomings. He writes, "Accomplishments like, 'Hey, I just got promoted!' or 'Take a look at my new sports car' trump sharing the intricacies of our daily commute or a life-shattering divorce."  Some people react to such announcements by feeling a need to one-up the accomplishment, creating an environment of competition and self-evaluation that has users comparing their successes to the success of others.  So really, anyone who has Bill Gates as a friend on Facebook is entirely setting themselves up for disappointment.

Additionally, Facebook takes us out of the "now" of our own lives so that we can read about everything that's happening with our friends. "My interviewees regularly accessed Facebook from the office," Gulati writes, "at home through their iPads and while out shopping on their smartphones."  When people do this, they're less engaged with the tasks they ought to be focused on, which leads to less efficiency, less awareness of their surroundings, and a lower sense of accomplishment on finished tasks.

Granted, not a whole lot of the depressors in Gulati's article apply to the scenario that had me leave Facebook, but it is a small comfort to know that there are legitimate other dangers to spending your life on the Internet.  Who knows?  Maybe a few of my other Facebook friends will realize this and abandon their own profiles in favor of conversation over a nice lunch.

"Facebook Is Making Us Miserable", Daniel Gulati - Huffington Post