This is why Facebook is ruining your life, according to science

You spend an hour on Facebook a day.

This is if you're the average user. Which is a terrifying stat.

What's more, it's probably making you unhappy.

Thousands of studies have found that positive relationships with other humans tend to make humans happier.

However, this is mostly driven by data from what we'd call 'real world' interaction.

Harvard Business Review looked at three periods of data supplied by Gallup from 5,208 adults, over a period of two years. This allowed tracking of changes in social media and how they affect well-being.

They also pulled data directly from Facebook, so the results were not self-reported, improving their validity. The study also compared to real-world social networks.

Compared to a baseline measurement of a person's well-being and Facebook use, as well as their real-world network size compared to Facebook, they found that increased use of Facebook was associated with a likelihood of diminished wellbeing in future.

Use of engagement tools (like, shares and comments) seemed to have no significantly different effect on well-being.

In short, it's not about how you use Facebook, but about how much you use it, that gets you down.

Online interactions, emotionally speaking, aren't a substitution for the real thing.

So get off your phone and have a real conversation.

HT Uproxx

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