Feeling blue? Taking a break from Facebook might help

A new study shows that regular use of social networking such as Facebook can negatively affect your emotional well-being and satisfaction with life. But you don't have to quit Facebook altogether; simply changing your social networking behavior and taking an occasional break from Facebook may lift your spirits, according to the study published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking.

In the article "The Facebook Experiment: Quitting Facebook Leads to Higher Levels of Well-Being," Morten Tromholt, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, describes an experiment in which he gave more than 1,000 participants a pretest and then randomly assigned them to one of two conditions: continue using Facebook as usual; or stop using Facebook for a week. He reports on the negative effects of Facebook use on overall well-being, based on life satisfaction and emotions. After one week without Facebook, the treatment group showed statistically significant improvement in well-being, with gains varying depending on the amount of time they previously spent on Facebook and whether or not they were passive users and tended to envy others on Facebook.

"Confirming previous research, this study found that 'lurking' on Facebook may cause negative emotions. However, on the bright side, as previous studies have shown, actively connecting with close friends, whether in real life or on Facebook, may actually increase one's sense of well-being," says Editor-in-Chief Brenda K. Wiederhold, PhD, MBA, BCB, BCN, Interactive Media Institute, San Diego, California and Virtual Reality Medical Institute, Brussels, Belgium.