Facebook has 845 million active users monthly and 483 million active users daily. Is this a worldwide boredom epidemic? Or is there something inherently rewarding about using Facebook? It turns out that the latter is true (oh good…it’s not just me), and using social media has a whole host of psychological effects. in Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking proposed something called the Hyperpersonal Model that explains why looking at your Facebook profile actually raises your self-esteem. This is a surprising result considering that other practices that draw self-awareness (looking in a mirror, being videoed, etc.) can be quite a blow to your self-esteem. According to the study, the internet is the only place where you can selectively display chosen aspects of your life—flashback to the MySpace selfies that only show a quarter of your face at just the right angle—good pictures, flattering comments, and witty remarks. So when you look at your profiles jam-packed with “skinny days” and only the wall posts that got ten-plus comments, of course your self-esteem rises, and it’s no surprise you keep signing in for more.
And more and more and more, leading to, yep you called it, a Facebook addiction (though few will admit to it). A recent revealed that social media may be harder to resist than cigarettes and beer. Though sleep and sex still take the cake when it comes to self-control failures, social media beat out tobacco, alcohol, caffeine, and spending. In the words of Lindsay Bluth, “Small price to pay for self-esteem, Michael”. And it doesn’t stop there; viewing Facebook profiles actually induces a mind-body state called “flow” that usually occurs during highly productive activities such as writing or playing music, according to an M.I.T. study. So while your spending hours going through every picture of that random person spotted with your ex, your brain registers this as productive time, a contradiction indeed.
Of course the folks at Facebook have realized their psychological prowess and released Timeline. The sheer amount of content on each Facebook page is enough to keep you in “flow” state for countless amounts of time, not to mention the opportunity to be highly selective on your own profile. I spent my allotted two weeks before Timeline launched pouring over the last six years of content, carefully choosing only the crème de la crème of my social life. It’s like that awkward phase never happened, everything I had to say was nothing short of genius, and I only checked in at the coolest spots…magic! Oh, Facebook, you make us look so hip and attractive, and we love you for it.
Leave a Comment
·
