Taking a break from Facebook could make people less depressed

Taking a break from Facebook could make people less depressed

PanARMENIAN.Net - After Facebook’s data scandal, where approximately 50 million profiles were harvested for Cambridge Analytica, users vowed to leave the platform for good. Fast forward a year, and stats prove that people did actually flock from the social network — by the millions even.

But leaving Facebook isn’t just good for your privacy, you’ll probably feel better for it too. A study published this week in the journal “Experimental Economics,” found that people who spent a week away from Facebook consumed less news, and ultimately experienced greater well-being.

The study titled “The Economic Effects of Facebook,” studied 1,769 US undergraduates in 2017, who usually spent a total of 1.9 hours on the platform per day, of which they spent around 15 to 30 minutes consuming news.

The researchers surveyed each participants on the effects of taking time away from the tech giant, and randomly assigned them into two groups. The first group left the social network completely for a week while the second was not restricted at all.

The results found that the group that spent time away from Facebook consumed less news and were less likely to recognize politically-skewed news stories. They also showed fewer signs of becoming depressed. The researchers also suggest that “Facebook has significant effects on important aspects of life not directly related to building and supporting social networks.”

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