LOS ANGELES—Are you jealous of everyone you know? If so,
it might be time to take a break from Facebook.
Scrolling through photos of other people’s vacations,
joyful family moments and awesome nights out may be a threat to your sense of
personal happiness, say a team of German researchers in a new study titled
“Envy on Facebook: A hidden threat to users’ life satisfaction?”
The study was conducted by social scientists at Humboldt
University in Berlin and Darmstadt’s Technical University. In a survey of 357
people — mostly German university students — respondents were initially
hesitant to admit to feeling jealous while looking at Facebook. But when asked
what makes “other people” feel bad about looking at Facebook, nearly 1 in 3
respondents cited jealousy. Additionally, 1 in 5 respondents said their last
jealous feeling occurred while looking at the social networking site.
Those surveyed said they are most likely to be jealous of
other people’s travel and leisure time (think vacation photos), social
interactions (how many “likes” a friend’s picture gets), and simply the sense
that other people are just generally happier in their lives.
Those of us who often feel bad about ourselves after a
Facebook binge might stave off those unpleasant feelings of jealousy by pumping
up our own accomplishments — a strategy the researchers call the “self
promotion-envy cycle.” Additionally, we might stay off the social networking
site entirely, or hide posts by people who make us feel the worst.
The researchers point out that these reactions could have
consequences for Facebook and other social networks.
“From a provider’s perspective, our findings signal that
users frequently perceive Facebook as a stressful environment, which may, in
the long run, endanger platform sustainability,” they write.
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