Facebook boosts connections but not happiness – study

People who use Facebook may feel more connected, but less happy. A study of young adults released Wednesday, August 14, concluded that the more people used Facebook, the worse they subsequently felt. “On the surface, Facebook provides an invaluable resource for fulfilling the basic human need for social connection,” said University of Michigan social psychologist Ethan Kross, lead author of the study. “But rather than enhance well-being, we found that Facebook use predicts the opposite result — it undermines it.” The researchers recruited 82 young adults who had smartphones and Facebook accounts and assessed their subjective wellbeing by texting them at random times 5 times a day for two weeks. The researchers said the study, published in the scientific journal PLOS, was believed to be the first measuring Facebook’s impact on happiness and life satisfaction.

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