
Study: Staying off Facebook can make you happier - vidyesh
http://qz.com/546799/a-study-forced-people-to-quit-facebook-and-they-were-happier-for-it/
======
untog
Agh, this thread is just full of people boasting about their immunity to
interest in Facebook. Congratulations, you're fantastic, oh that we could all
be as enlightened as you.

Personally, I find that Facebook has become my address book - while I still
text people I see every day, Messenger group chats are often used instead.
Plus the voice and video calls have been a great way to keep up with people
further afield. Yes, Skype exists, but Facebook is easier - which is huge with
older relatives.

 _That said_ , this study doesn't surprise me. In terms of public posts
everyone projects their "best life", so you're browsing through a catalogue of
amazing experiences while you sit at home feeling a little fat.

I'm not sure what the answer to that is. Some say Snapchat is a much better
place for people to be their true selves - I can believe it.

~~~
sotojuan
[http://messenger.com/](http://messenger.com/)

The best thing Facebook ever did was separate the useful messenger from the
terrible main site.

~~~
maskedinvader
I am not so sure that was the most useful, I sure liked the main site chat to
work on mobile even if I didn't want another app (messenger to be installed).
Yeah i'm one of those few who prefer simple single app experience. I prefer if
companies could try keep things a little more backward compatible. /rant

~~~
sotojuan
I agree with you. It must have been annoying for people who use the site and
messenger. I meant I like that they can act as two separate things.

------
brickmort
I deleted my Facebook account after realizing that every time I would go on
it, the clickbait and mindless minutia would irritate me more than entertain
me. between the advertisements, there would be 'you'll never guess what
happens next!' posts, then political propaganda, then children/marriage
updates on people I hadn't interacted with in years. At a certain point, I
realized that it wasn't even fun to me anymore, so I bid farewell to everyone,
backed up my contacts & pictures, then deleted my facebook. It's been about
two years since I left and, for the most part, I don't really regret it.

With that said, what I do regret is missing out on my growing family. My
cousins from out of state as well as my siblings are getting married and
having kids. I was helping my mom log into her facebook the other day and I
saw pictures of my niece's first day of ballet class and my nephew's first day
of kindergarden. It made me light up and think "Ah shit, I'm kind of missing
out on these things." Although I see them every now and then, stuff like that
is the only reason I would even consider getting back on FB. I find it funny
that it's for a completely different purpose from when I first joined in
college.

~~~
dottenad
I just found News Feed Eradicator the other day and it has changed my Facebook
habits drastically. It lets you use all of the useful features of FB
(messages, groups, pages, etc.) and replaces the newsfeed with a quote about
procrastination or productivity. 10/10 would recommend -
[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/news-feed-
eradicat...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/news-feed-eradicator-
for/fjcldmjmjhkklehbacihaiopjklihlgg)

~~~
mrchess
I used this for a while but noticed it greatly slowed down my Facebook in
general. Ended up uninstalling it after a few days. Wish they had a lighter
weight one.

~~~
ldd
I know this might sound like a really non-efficient thing to do, but you can
individually unfollow every single one of your contacts. I only have around
~200 friends so unfollowing them wasn't that hard.

Nowadays, I love going to Facebook. My news feed is completely empty.

~~~
georgemcbay
I don't go to that extreme, but I did find Facebook was much more manageable
when I started just unfollowing anyone whose posts/reshares annoyed me more
than a couple of times.

I've probably only unfollowed about 10% of my total friends list, but the
difference is immense, a lot of the noise tends to come from a small subset of
the people, in my experience.

~~~
firebones
This is a missed opportunity. As Shirky points out, social media is "publish,
then filter", and you've found a powerful filter that lets you reap the
benefits. (And he also points out power laws--10% of the people in your feed
post 90% of the garbage.)

While I don't log in to Facebook more than once every six months, your
observation gives me hope that I might be able to find some utility in it.

------
quacker
Facebook was a great form of communication in high school and college, for
events and meeting up with classmates and things. Afterwards, people drifted
apart and it became kind of an empty place - hundreds of friends but only a
handful I kept in touch with.

As time went on and as my friends list stagnated, facebook kept me attached to
the past ("that was so much fun, wasn't it?"). It covered some 7-8 years of my
life. Logging on was a bit like falling backwards in time. It makes me
remember mistakes I can never undo and moments I can never relive. I was
following the events of very old friends I'll most likely never see again. I
decided this was not very valuable, so I stopped using facebook.

Deactivating facebook brought my attention back to the present and the future.
I'm a bit less distracted. There's no more thoughtless, routine clicking of
the facebook link in my bookmarks. I focus a bit better at work. I've put
better effort into my proximate relationships (family, friends, coworkers).
I've put a bit more effort into my own health and fitness.

These are all small changes, mostly due to a change in my own mindset. But,
while it was easy because my close friends and I post very little, deleting
facebook was a good first step.

~~~
tdkl
> Afterwards, people drifted apart and it became kind of an empty place -
> hundreds of friends but only a handful I kept in touch with.

Welcome to real life as it always was. It's actually healthy to not keep touch
with all the people you've ever known.

------
pamelafox
I used to think I should stay off Facebook, because I knew of such studies and
felt the effects myself.

But I now view Facebook as an exercise in internal self-worth: Can I browse
through everyone's posts of their 'best life' and be genuinely happy for them?
Can I take in their stories without comparing my life to theirs?

I know that I would likely feel better if I didn't put myself through that
exercise, but I think it'd be valuable for me if I can actually get to the
point where I can browse Facebook and remain as happy, if not more. I'm not
there yet, so time will tell.

~~~
intopieces
There are a few people I barely knew in High School that I follow on Facebook
specifically because their posts include many about how they are struggling.
"Today I tried to not drink, but I failed. I need help and I never knew how
badly until today." I am grateful for these people. They remind me of what it
is to be human. I comment from time to time, or send them messages both on
that topic and off.

------
DKnoll
I deleted my Facebook account and I believe doing so did (marginally) increase
my quality of life. It has forced me to focus more on real-world interactions
with people.

I also find it emotionally draining to be in constant contact with people you
never actually see... it feels as if Facebook allows fake or weak friendships
to continue that would naturally die off without it.

The only thing I do miss is the ubiquity of Facebook Messenger and the
features it provides over SMS, which I have now reverted to for communicating
with friends.

~~~
pconner
> I also find it emotionally draining to be in constant contact with people
> you never actually see... it feels as if Facebook allows fake or weak
> friendships to continue that would naturally die off without it.

I agree. One of the reasons I left is because constantly checking FB
(ironically) made me feel really lonely.

------
tatx
Browsing Facebook, or for that matter any other similar network (including HN
:)), is like anti-meditation. They rattle your mind with so much information
in such quick succession that it becomes almost impossible to think through or
about any one particular thing. Like alcohol, it is simultaneously addictive –
the mind craves information – and depressing – numbs the mind preventing it
from engaging in deep rational thought.

I think we can have the best of both worlds – enjoy our whiskey and discuss
philosophy too :) I think there is a future for a social network that can slow
things down a little, maybe also summarize, organize and filter an apparently
disparate group of things, allowing the user enough time to digest and process
the information before moving ahead in leisure.

------
Kronopath
Note that the study only tracked people for a single week, so it's likely that
while it does show a positive improvement on moment-to-moment happiness, it
neglects other longer-term effects like, possibly, social isolation from
cutting yourself off from a major communication medium.

~~~
developer1
This "study" isn't a study at all. One week provides factually meaningless
data. You'd need a minimum of 3 months just to register a new baseline, and
another 6-12 months to see if those participants who originally found a higher
baseline at 3 months maintain it or fall back to previous levels as the
novelty of the situation wears off.

You want to know why people reported feeling better? Because they changed a
habit. When you change _anything_ in your life for a single week, you will
feel better because you have pulled yourself out of your everyday routine and
are experiencing something NEW. This is the result of a change; what changed -
Facebook in this case - does not matter.

The novelty of a change in habit for a single week does not even begin to
offer evidence of anything. This isn't even a case of "not enough evidence",
but rather "no evidence whatsoever". This novelty is similar to the kind of
high you get from buying a new expensive toy/gadget. A temporary boost of
"happiness" that quickly fades as the new item just becomes another object in
your day-to-day life.

------
swang
"How do you know if someone doesn't use Facebook? Don't worry they'll tell
you" should be the new, "How do you know if someone doesn't own a TV..." joke.

------
orthoganol
Pretty polarizing thread.

I deleted FB two years ago. I'm a social 20-something. It hasn't impacted my
social life at all, actually, and I do feel happier.

I18n friends, my family, or college acquaintances or x-coworkers who I care
about are on WhatsApp, Gmail, or Skype. Close friends or dating prospects I
text.

YMMV.

No need to crucify people for leaving FB. No need to act like you're superior
for leaving FB.

I'll reiterate, I _am_ happier two years later after leaving FB and I feel
like I got more time back.

------
nommm-nommm
The big reason why Facebook depresses me is extreme narcissism.

~~~
lazzlazzlazz
Unfollow those people and engage more closely with those who enrich your life.

~~~
adamnemecek
Facebook is kind of a bad medium for that as it's not very private. And if you
are going to have a 1-on-1 convo with some people, you might as well use IM.

~~~
lazzlazzlazz
Messenger is actually my primary use-case for Facebook. Talking one-on-one,
contextualized by whatever each other are doing publically, is a great way to
engage with someone meaningfully. There's always some fodder to initialize a
conversation.

------
mpg33
It's a form of real time "keeping up with Johnson's".

~~~
7Figures2Commas
Except for the fact that most of what the Johnson's _appear_ to have is
contrived.

~~~
teddyh
Was it ever not thus?

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFMwYNX5qUk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFMwYNX5qUk)

~~~
7Figures2Commas
To a large extent, yes, but social media has made faking a lifestyle you don't
lead even easier. Anybody with a smartphone and a desire to portray themselves
in a particular light can do so pretty effectively with very limited
intelligence and skill required.

------
subpixel
I deleted my FB account almost a year ago for a couple reasons. One of which
is the sheer insanity of a single corporation knowing so much about us all and
our relationships. Another is that checking Facebook all the time became a bad
habit, like a twitch, something I felt the urge to do but then got no relief
through doing. Another is probably spite - a rejection of the idea that having
a FB account is necessary, something to be taken for granted.

Some observations:

\- I have no idea what's going on in the lives of many people I'm not in close
contact with. I have no problem with this.

\- My wife tells me about extended family stuff, and shows me the occasional
photo. I'm okay with this.

\- Instagram has replaced FB to a great degree, for me. But instead of being
built around a growing social graph, my Instagram experience is built around a
handful of friends and networks of interest. But my usage is nothing like the
way I used FB. I post only when I have something to share, and I open the app
probably once a week to peruse. I miss tons of stuff, and I'm okay with that.

\- I'm involved with a bunch of athletic groups that use FB for events and
communication. This is a problem. The degree to which FB has replaced email in
this regard is crazy to me. I hope Slack etc. will prove effective at
minimizing this.

\- I'm launching a business soon and I was concerned that I'd _need_ to be on
FB in some commercial capacity. But I honestly think that era is over. Other
companies in my industry have anemic feeds that point to the low, low level of
engagement through that channel.

\- When I feel the need to waste time, some remnant of the FB 'twitch', I look
at old faves like englishrussia.com or subject-matter porn like
landandfarm.com or everydaycarry.com

\- I call/FaceTime my mom more often.

------
credo
The qz report suggests that users were more happy and less worried/sad if they
stayed off Facebook, but it doesn't mention the (imo) more important part of
the study.

The study says that most people _" post their good sides on Facebook"_

The study also says that many facebook users _" envy"_ the amazing, happy and
success related notes posted by their friends on facebook.

So it seems like you can stay happy on facebook and not feel worried if you

(a) understand that you should not envy your friends

or/and

(b) understand that you shouldn't take all facebook posts as face value and
understand that you shouldn't assume that these posts represent your friends
lives in entirety. You shouldn't assume that life is a bed of roses for your
friends just because they posted the best parts of their life. It is likely
that they have just as many problems and troubles as you do even thought their
facebook posts may not capture all of these problems.

------
HugoDaniel
I have stayed 1 year away from facebook. I restarted using it about 6 months
ago. I can't evaluate if I was happier during that year as it is very hard for
me to quantify being "happy". Although there are a few points i take from that
time:

\+ loads of free time

\+ more focus on stuff that i think is more productive

\+ no need to manage so many events

\+ spent time talking to relatives instead of typing with them (in person
and/or in phone)

\- loss of conectivity with friends (if you are not on facebook you won't get
invited to many events)

\- not being aware of small trends (like the new meme or the current 'internet
localized scandal' as in 'the host of the show x was caught drunk')

\- lost track of certain creative friends that only publish stuff on facebook

~ being regarded as a anti-social by certaing groups

~ not caring about stuff that are not that important and is not actually worth
the time

~ looking at people using facebook and thinking "i once was a zombie just like
you"

------
tn13
Also, based on the research as noted in the "Rational Optimist" one of the
keys to remain happy is to simply withdraw from competition and set your own
goals for happiness.

Example given is of a Doctor who always dreamed of becoming an amazing doctor
healing people and succeeded but one day happened to attend a conference where
many of his past batchmates were also present who were making insane amount of
money by working for insurance companies. This doctor now felt unhappy and
jumped the same bandwagon making even more money that before but the cost of
happiness. While the example is anecdotal, the research does show that
competition for social status makes people unhappy.

There is nothing wrong about Facebook and our need to use it but the fact that
it might make us unhappy might be true.

------
neogodless
It's a sort of drug, isn't it? I went perhaps 6 months without Facebook a few
years ago, and I was very happy. I went to less social events, which were
actually mostly events where I drank to feel more socially adept. I did not
really miss those events. I was also working on a side project regularly. I
created a Facebook Page and new account to try to spread the word of my side
project with people I knew... and I ended up going down the rabbit hole. I
haven't really been able to leave it, and I never did make any more progress
on that side project.

------
tn13
Value of Facebook to me has eroded over last 2 years or so primarily because
of messengers such as whatsapp and privacy concerns.

I use linkedin to stay in touch with colleges, WhatsApp to stay in touch with
close friends and family, share pictures etc. and I ignore most other people
in my life.

Facebook remain the source of news and interesting links that people share but
I am pretty sure someone will fill that need better than facebook sooner or
later.

P.S. I use Facebook extensively to run ad campaigns for my apps. But I am not
counting that as use.

------
hopfog
I love Facebook. Definitely makes my life a lot better. I use it to:

* stay in touch with friends

* know what events are up (my group of friends create events even for very small gatherings)

* find out about new music from the artists I like

* find interesting links and news about programming/tech (from a group I follow)

* read interesting discussions about programming/tech (same group)

* see interesting posts about indie games and indie game development in general (another group)

* see what people I've long lost contact with are up to nowadays

~~~
bigbugbag
It's scary how facebook managed to replace the internet in the language as if
those people thought that it was facebook that making all this happen when it
actually is the internet.

This is a dangerous confusion to make for people born in the internet era.

------
musesum
Same goes with TV: [http://lifehacker.com/5095892/happy-people-watch-less-tv-
stu...](http://lifehacker.com/5095892/happy-people-watch-less-tv-study-shows)

Is it about social status? Or is it the ADs? ADs seek out holes to fill with
product. Ad-support-media use analytics to more effectively show me my
particular holes. After a while, I begin to feel empty.

~~~
cortesoft
It might also be the passive nature of the two activities.... browsing
facebook and watching TV are very passive activities. You do not use your
creativity or skills to do them; happy people tend to do more creative and
constructive things.

~~~
TeMPOraL
A lot depends on the way one uses it. Personally, I (and many of my friends)
use it the same way I use HN - I post interesting stuff and engange in long,
asynchronous discussions that sometimes span many days.

------
FussyZeus
Every time I see one of these studies I just laugh. As if Facebook is
something that is used universally in a single way and can be determined to be
good or bad.

Speaking as someone who has a ton of friends (actual friends) who I only get
to see once or twice a year, Facebook is a godsend. It let's us stay in touch
with people we care about who live on the other side of the planet.

Yeah, if you use it as a meterstick on how "good" you're doing at life, of
course it's going to make you depressed. Same goes for if you watch HDTV and
do that. If you spend all your time looking at the things and lusting after
the things you DON'T have, how the hell could you possibly be happy!?

And to the people complaining about clickbait, the simple fact is Facebook
wants you to stay on Facebook which means if you get a shitload of clickbait,
you're probably clicking a shitload of clickbait. I dedicated about a month of
my daily use and deliberately hid every single clickbait-y link, photo, etc.
as well as unliked pages that posted that shit at ANY time. This culled me
down to a selection of pages that actually post interesting stuff, and to the
friends (and what they post) that weren't clickbait. Sure, I get one every
once in awhile but I'd say it's down to about 1 in 40 posts are something
crummy, and every time I get it, I hide it. Facebook's news feed is actually
extremely well curated, it's just designed to give you things that you will
pay attention to, positive or negative attention counts.

Just my two cents of course, your mileage may vary, etc.

------
ionised
I still have an account, but I only check in maybe once or twice a week now
(via Tinfoil for Facebook) for a less than a minute to see if I have any
private messages or invites to events from friends.

Feels like one less thing to think about that didn't actually offer me
anything of real value in the end.

------
Roritharr
I found Facebook to really affect my moods in a distressing manner.

I use Facebook occupationally and like its Messenger and Groups a lot so
leaving was out of the question. So I bit the bullet and unfollowed all of my
friends. Now Facebook is a glorified News Feed for me and I am noticably more
serene.

------
arvinsim
I just simply unfollow all my friends and keep the ones that I want to follow
in groups.

That way, my newsfeed is not polluted and it is up to me to decide who I want
to check up on.

I could never totally give it up because it has become an indispensable hub of
communication with people I know with Messenger.

------
dymk
> "That said, the results are based on self-reported answers"

Uhuh. I'm gonna go ahead and take this whole article with a massive chunk of
salt; this breaks one of the main rules of how to do a statistically
meaningful survey, so I don't see much value in the numbers.

~~~
mabcat
What is the main rule, exactly? The only way to measure happiness is self-
report. Most psych studies in general are self-report. Very hard to get at
people's mental states without it.

------
chriszhu12
Maybe its not so much getting off Facebook as it is a change in lifestyle.

I'm curious if someone conducted a study to see the effects of a group of
people who have never used facebook use it extensively for a week. Maybe their
happiness levels also increase.

------
trz
Why not have a third group of people that never had facebook and compare their
outlook too? Comparing against only people that use facebook regularly doesn't
provide an adequate control group.

------
amelius
I wonder what would happen to our collective happiness level if people posted
their bank-account balance on a daily basis to facebook.

(All those nice vacation pics must be financed somehow.)

------
cpplinuxdude
Quitting for a week, and quitting forever are two different things. Life off
facebook has its own challenges too. How does a 1 week study draw such
categorical conclusions?

------
7Figures2Commas
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxVZYiJKl1Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxVZYiJKl1Y)

This is social media.

------
smegel
Is Facebook one of those social networking sites? Meh.

------
sridca
By making Facebook a scapegoat humans have once again conveniently avoided
talking about an uncomfortable truth about themselves. People give off
inauthentic expressions all the time -- take women putting on makeup for
example -- and this tells us more about human nature than Facebook or
corporations.

------
CrazyCatDog
But how fraction of the (happier) non-users have returned to Facebook?

------
atrust
I wonder, how many people shared it on Facebook?

------
fouadf
depends on how you're using facebook, as long as it's not voyeurism you should
be fine

------
finalight
as much as you are right (or suppose to), but sorry, I not leaving facebook
for real

facebook is where i learn more things in than any other places.

okay fine, there's wikipedia and youtube too

~~~
ionised
I would be more than a little concerned if Facebook, Youtube and Wikipedia is
where you gain most of your knowledge.

Wikipedia is slightly understandable but it should not be any more thnan a
quick reference guide on a given topic, but taken with a grain of salt. It
certainly shouldn't be taken as gospel truth.

