Facebook ‘can be good for wellbeing’

By Joyce Fegan

Facebook can be good for your wellbeing, but it depends on how you use it.

According to both independent and in-house research carried out by the social media giant, interacting with others online as opposed to just mindlessly looking at other people’s lives, can be good for your overall mood.

“What independent research, as well as our own research, has told us is that what really matters, more than the amount of time you’re spending, is how you’re spending that time.

So if you’re spending hours a day on Facebook, but you’re using it in ways that are deeply meaningful and deeply connecting back and forth with people, those tend to be associated with increases in well-being, versus if you’re just using that time to passively consume videos or do other things that kind of get you into that scrolling mentality,” said David Ginsberg, Facebook’s vice president of research.

He was talking at a media briefing in Dublin yesterday on the effects of social media on people’s wellbeing. What is not good for your mental health is when you are simply observing other people’s lives and not actually being a part of their life, or basically comparing yourself, either consciously or unconsciously, he noted.

However, research has indicated when you interact online, the negative effects of social comparison can be lessened. “This notion of social comparison, if you’re spending a lot of time looking at other people’s lives and just thinking about how you compare, that might make you feel negative,” said Lauren Scissors, a research manager at Facebook.

“What we see is that if you’re consuming content about people’s lives and then interacting with them, talking about it, saying ‘congratulations’ or ‘that happened to me too’, that is where the potential effect of comparing yourself, which is sort of a natural thing on social media, or off of social media, kind of go away.”

Earlier this year, Facebook changed how posts appear in their users’ news feeds. Research found that what users across all age groups, genders, and countries had in common when it came to “meaningful” engagement was learning about friends and family and keeping up-to-date on issues.

We took that major finding and we made sure that news feeds and the posts that are prioritised in news feeds reflect that type of interaction that people can have, that is better for their well-being,” said Ms Scissors.

Facebook, which also owns photo-sharing platform Instagram, also rolled out some tools to help manage people’s social media experience. Wellbeing informed these tools, they say.

The tools include a “snooze” button where you can select keywords related to certain issues you want to avoid. Another tool is their “activity dashboard” where users can manage the time they spend on the platforms.

“We developed these tools based on collaboration and inspiration from leading mental health experts and organisations, academics, our own extensive research and feedback from our community. We want the time people spend on Facebook and Instagram to be intentional, positive and inspiring,” said a spokesperson for the company.

These tools have not yet been put into use in Ireland.