Facebook+Leading+Us+To+an+Unhealthy+Life

Is Facebook Leading Us to Live an Unhealthy Life? Essay By Christina Hart

Facebook, which now can be used by everybody in any generation, is one of the most popular website. According to the Daily Mail, using Facebook “could raise your risk of cancer”. The newspaper reported that social networking sites “could raise your risk of serious health problems by reducing levels of face-to-face contact.” This is based on an article expressing the opinion of psychologist Dr. Aric Sigman, who is concerned that a reduction in personal contact could increase the risks of heart disease, stroke and dementia.

Research at the UCLA School of Medical is reported to have found that social isolation can affect the level to which genes are active in white blood cells. People reporting high levels of social isolation by 78 genes that were more active and 131 genes that were less active are reported to include those involved in the body’s response to stress and illness, while those that were more active are reported to include those involved in promoting inflammation during stress and illness.

However, using Facebook not only causes physical problems, but also somehow ruins the relationship among friends, family, and efficiency in studying and working since people have been so addicted to Facebook, which is absolutely an unhealthy way of life,

No matter you notice it or not, this thing has been very common among our generation. Because we have known what is going on about our friends through Facebook by the status and the pictures they updating now and then. It will be much easier for us to write comment about their new status and the pictures but we forgot how to find a topic when we were face-to face! Nowadays, you can hear more “Facebook me” more than “ call me”. People are somehow afraid of communicating with others by the true voice in reality!

Also, Facebook has an adverse influence on efficiency in working and studying. In China, there has been a big wave caused by an application on Facebook called “Happy Farm”, a virtual game, in which you can plant your plants to rise level for locked plants and steal other’s fruitage from you friends’ “Farm”. Many people find their way to be able to play this game while they are working or studying. In this circumstance, of course will adversely affect their efficiency in working and studying because you are not doing what you suppose to do at that time.

Most recently, OnlineEducation.net, an online database designed to inform current and prospective students about education opportunities in the U.S., compiled a mound of research data on college students and their use of social media.

On analyzing it, the group could only conclude that the results were inconclusive and mixed. Thus, the debate roils on.

Key survey findings include:

96 percent of college students use Facebook;

Grades of students who checked Facebook while studying were 20% lower than grades of those who didn’t check Facebook while studying;

79 percent of students did not believe that multitasking in the way mentioned above negatively affected their grades;

20 percent of students that use social media reported feeling connected to their institution;

75 percent of college students reported wanting to collaborate online.

None of this is earth-shattering. If a student in the throes of cramming for finals is distracted every few minutes by the urge to check Facebook status updates involving friends’ day-to-day dating sagas and roommate skirmishes, it only makes sense that the student will be less engaged in learning, absorb less knowledge and likely score lower on the big test.

Yet, the same results might be seen for students who get up every few minutes to grab a snack, watch TV or incessantly pick up the phone to text or call friends while studying.

These days, Facebook is just a part of life. In December 2011, the preeminent social network boasted more than 845 million active monthly users, with 483 million of those using the site daily. And a 2011 study by market research firm Nielsen shows that the average Facebook user spends four times as many hours on the network each month as he or she spends on any other site. Like getting too little sleep, drinking, smoking, or sunbathing, the increasing number of hours we spend on Facebook is surely affecting our health, right?

Below, five ways experts believe Facebook could be hurting our mental health.

1. Eating disorders Pinterest isn’t the only social network that makes people feel bad about themselves. According to a recent survey of 600 Facebook users, ages 16 to 40, by the Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt, more than half say that seeing pictures of themselves and others on the site “makes them more conscious about their own body and their weight.” And it wasn’t only females who felt the burn; 40 percent of male respondents said they comment negatively about their own bodies on Facebook photos. On top of that, 32-percent said they feel “sad” when comparing photos of themselves to pictures of their friends. And 44-percent said they wished they had the same body or weight as their friends, when looking at photos on Facebook.

2. Low self-esteem and depression This falls in the same vein as poor body image: an increasing number of studies (1, 2, 3) have found that posts by our friends make us feel worse about our own lives. This is due to the fact that we naturally compare ourselves to our peers. If the people around us are posting happy, significant life accomplishments (which happens every day, if you have a lot of friends), then we feel worse about our lack of having anything good to report. This is exacerbated by the fact that people usually choose to post good things about their lives, rather than the bad things, which skews our perception of reality even further. Experts suggest limiting the number of friends you have on Facebook, and de-friending those who like to brag about their “amazing” lives the most.

3. Psychological disorders In addition to making us depressed, Facebook may also be making our kids crazy — literally. Dr. Larry D. Rosen, a professor of psychology at California State University, Dominguez Hills, last year released a study that concluded that teenagers and young adults who spend much of their time on Facebook are at a higher risk of developing a cornucopia of psychological disorders, including mania, paranoia, aggressive tendencies, and antisocial behavior. Moreover, Facebook may add fuel to the fire in those teens who display narcissistic tendencies, by allowing them to broadcast their unhealthy self-love 24/7.

4. Stress Posting “happy birthday” on your friend’s Wall may be less stressful than actually attending a party or even sending a card. But that doesn’t mean Facebook is making your life any easier. Dr. Kathy Charles of Edinburgh Napier University released a study early last year, which showed that, of the 200 people she surveyed, a majority felt some type of stress in relation to the social network, and 12-percent said the site makes them feel anxious. Those with a large number Facebook friends experienced the most stress. Dr. Charles also found that many become stressed at the thought of missing out on something good posted to the site, a phenomenon now known as the “fear of missing out,” which has become so widespread it has its own acronym (FOMO).

5. Addiction Up there with sex addiction, and good ol’ fashioned Internet addiction hangs a new monkey on our backs: Facebook addiction. Researchers at the University of Chicago recently analyzed more than 8,000 reports of everyday desires from 250 participants, and found that quitting Facebook (and Twitter) was more difficult than giving up cigarettes or alcohol. This follow a study of Web search analytics data by marketing firm The Internet Time Machine, which shows that the term “Facebook addiction” has become one of the most searched-for terms in this category, (with things like “alcohol addiction” still ranking higher on the list). As with stress, Facebook addiction has been linked to FOMO.

Perception:

A recent study published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking looks at the relationship between Facebook use and perceptions of other’s lives. The authors, sociologists Hui-Tzu Grace Chou and Nicholas Edge from Utah Valley University, find that those with greater involvement in Facebook feel that others have better and happier lives than they do. This is amplified for those who have many Facebook Friends with whom they do not interact outside of the online platform. These findings have been picked up by several mainstream media outlets, and unsurprisingly, are used as evidence of the deleterious impacts of an over-digitized world.

Alex Jordan at Stanford University conducted a study, published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, of 80 Facebook users, focusing on the number of positive and negative experience their peers were experiencing. He found they consistently over-estimated the fun their friends were having and underestimated their negative or unhappy experiences. He concluded that Facebook may be worsening the tendency to thin everyone else is enjoying themselves more than you are. "By showcasing the most witty, joyful, bullet-pointed versions of people's lives, and inviting constant comparisons in which we tend to see ourselves as the losers, Facebook appears to exploit an Achilles' hell of human nature. And women may be especially vulnerable to keeping up with what they imagine is the happiness of the Joneses," Jordon contends.

Relationships:

The social networking site Facebook puts its users abreast of the activities of their contacts, but also can be a poison for relationships and, as revealed in a recent study, is increasing jealousy and tensions between their supporters.

According to the department of psychology at the Canadian University of Guelph, Facebook may lead to serious situations of jealousy with his continuous flow of information about what we do, who are friends and what photos appear.

After all, who would not ever wonder why a former boyfriend or girlfriend is among contacts of your partner? Or who is that blond or blond-appearing in a very friendly attitude in the photos of our husband or our wife?

"Facebook allows access to information that would otherwise not agree and this information often lacks context," he told Efe Amy Muise, one of the managers of the study at the University of Guelph.

The social network "is exposing more people to triggers of jealousy," he added.

The study, conducted among several hundred students of which a third were women, showed that social networking site Facebook can lure us into a spiral of distrust.

Thus, a banal comment on the profile of our partner made by a contact of the opposite sex can lead to suspicion and closely monitor their Facebook page ... only to find more information feel even more suspicious and jealous.

"Feelings of insecurity about your partner may cause behaviors inquisitive and Facebook is easy access to this information," said Muise.

In many cases, the "spy" can not even control what appears on their profile or can not quickly enough.

After all, the Internet social networks are a relatively new phenomenon that still somehow we are adjusting.

Although today is already more than 250 million members, social networking site Facebook, for example, was until just three years ago a business network confined to the U.S. academic community.

Today, almost everyone we know are members of the network, including current and past our spouses, our bosses and coworkers and sometimes even our parents.

Whant to know how addictted you are to facebook? Check out the link below:

http://theoatmeal.com/quiz/facebook_addict

Want to avoid Facebook addiction? I found a good article below a step by step on how to defeat facebook addiction?

http://www.wikihow.com/Defeat-a-Facebook-Addiction

More links on facebook addiction:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/the-hot-button/are-you-a-facebook-addict-take-the-doctor-designed-test/article4106203/

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/05/07/researchers-create-test-for-facebook-addiction

Papacharissi, Z. A networked self. London, Routledge, 2010. Schradie, J. ‘The digital production gap’, paper presented to the American Sociological Research Association conference, San Francisco, August 2009. Selwyn, N. ‘Faceworking: exploring students’ education-related use of Facebook’, in Learning, Media and Technology, 34, 2, pp. 157–74, 2009. Shirky, C. Here comes everybody. London, Allen Lane, 2008. Siemens, G. ‘Connectivism: a learning theory for the digital age’, 2004, www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm. Standish, P. ‘Preface’, in Journal of Philosophy of Education, 42, 3–4, pp. 349–53, 2008. Subrahmanyam, K. and Šmahel, D. Digital youth. Berlin, Springer, 2011.