Danish social scientists have published a study of 1,905 Facebook users, splitting them into two groups and asking one of the groups to cease and desist all of their Facebook activity for one week. Before they started the study, each participant was asked to rate their satisfaction with life, how much they compared themselves to other people, how active their social life was, and how easy they found it to concentrate. Most admitted that they only posted the good aspects and positive events of their life to Facebook. The results? After a week of living without social media, the cold-turkey group felt 55 percent less stressed and reported a higher level of satisfaction, concentration, sociability, and they felt less lonely. The scientists came to a conclusion: our tendency to compare ourselves to others is a significant cause of dissatisfaction in life. |
