The Facebook Experiment: Quitting Facebook Leads to Higher Levels of Well-Being

@article{Tromholt2016TheFE,
  title={The Facebook Experiment: Quitting Facebook Leads to Higher Levels of Well-Being},
  author={Morten Tromholt},
  journal={Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking},
  year={2016},
  volume={19 11},
  pages={
          661-666
        }
}
  • Morten Tromholt
  • Published 1 November 2016
  • Psychology
  • Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking
Most people use Facebook on a daily basis; few are aware of the consequences. Based on a 1-week experiment with 1,095 participants in late 2015 in Denmark, this study provides causal evidence that Facebook use affects our well-being negatively. By comparing the treatment group (participants who took a break from Facebook) with the control group (participants who kept using Facebook), it was demonstrated that taking a break from Facebook has positive effects on the two dimensions of well-being… 
View on PubMed
dariotamburrano.it
242 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
20
Background Citations
97
Methods Citations
11
Results Citations
19

Tables from this paper

242 Citations

Thinking of Quitting Facebook?

Whether you quit Facebook completely or simply take a social media break, chances are that you will feel better for doing so, and may find that substituting phone calls to close friends reveal what is really going on with them, as did this Wired reporter.

The burden of online friends: The effects of giving up Facebook on stress and well-being

The results suggest that the typical Facebook user may occasionally find the large amount of social information available to be taxing, and Facebook vacations could ameliorate this stress—at least in the short term.

Facebook Usage and Life Satisfaction

Results are discussed in light of possible addiction-supporting features of Facebook, which are reflected in Facebook usage patterns (e.g., higher mean duration of Facebook usage per week, larger number of logins to Facebook).

The economic effects of Facebook

Social media permeates many aspects of our lives, including how we connect with others, where we get our news and how we spend our time. Yet, we know little about the economic effects for users. In…

Facebook Depression or Facebook Contentment

Within the literature, Facebook has received much attention in order to understand the potential positive and negative effects associated with using the social networking site. The current chapter…

Taking a Short Break from Instagram: The Effects on Subjective Well-Being

It was found that women who quitted Ig reported significantly higher levels of life satisfaction and positive affect than women who kept using it, and no significant effects were found among men.

Sustaining Abstinence from Social Media: Results from a Seven-Day Facebook Break: Social Media Abstinence

Drawing from the stimulus-organism-response model, a research model is proposed to formulate the relationships between social media addiction, cognitive dissonance, attitude toward use, positive and negative affect during abstinence, and sustaining of social media abstinence, as measured by its duration.

Less Facebook use - More well-being and a healthier lifestyle? An experimental intervention study

Taking Facebook at face value: why the use of social media may cause mental disorder

If the use of social media such as Facebook does compromise mental health, the authors may be facing a global epidemic of mental disorders, which probably has its largest impact on the younger generations that use these applications the most (3).

No More FOMO: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression

Introduction: Given the breadth of correlational research linking social media use to worse well-being, we undertook an experimental study to investigate the potential causal role that social media…
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 27 REFERENCES

Facebook's emotional consequences: Why Facebook causes a decrease in mood and why people still use it

Passive Facebook usage undermines affective well-being: Experimental and longitudinal evidence.

It is demonstrated that passive Facebook usage undermines affective well-being, and this issue is examined using experimental and field methods.

Facebook Use Predicts Declines in Subjective Well-Being in Young Adults

Experience-sampling results suggest that Facebook may undermine well-being, rather than enhancing it, as Facebook use predicts negative shifts on both of these variables over time.

"They Are Happier and Having Better Lives than I Am": The Impact of Using Facebook on Perceptions of Others' Lives

Examination of the impact of using Facebook on people's perceptions of others' lives indicated that those who have used Facebook longer agreed more that others were happier, and agreed less that life is fair, and those spending more time on Facebook each week agreedMore that otherswere happier and had better lives.

Seeing everyone else's highlight reels: How Facebook usage is linked to depressive symptoms.

Two studies investigated how social comparison to peers through computer-mediated interactions on Facebook might impact users' psychological health. Study 1 (N = 180) revealed an association between…

Facebook use, envy, and depression among college students: Is facebooking depressing?

Does Posting Facebook Status Updates Increase or Decrease Loneliness? An Online Social Networking Experiment

It is revealed that the experimentally induced increase in status updating activity reduced loneliness, and that the decrease in loneliness was due to participants feeling more connected to their friends on a daily basis.

Is There Social Capital in a Social Network Site?: Facebook Use and College Students' Life Satisfaction, Trust, and Participation

Positive relationships between intensity of Facebook use and students' life satisfaction, social trust, civic engagement, and political participation are found, suggesting that online social networks are not the most effective solution for youth disengagement from civic duty and democracy.

The Benefits of Facebook "Friends: " Social Capital and College Students' Use of Online Social Network Sites

Facebook usage was found to interact with measures of psychological well-being, suggesting that it might provide greater benefits for users experiencing low self-esteem and low life satisfaction.

Mirror, Mirror on my Facebook Wall: Effects of Exposure to Facebook on Self-Esteem

Results reveal that becoming self-aware by viewing one's own Facebook profile enhances self-esteem rather than diminishes it, and suggest that selective self-presentation in digital media, which leads to intensified relationship formation, also influences impressions of the self.