The Joy and Angst of Facebook
Why quitting is so hard, and how cutting back might improve your mental and physical health
I decided to quit Facebook.
You’ve probably heard all the reasons — the obsessive feed checking, the compulsion to post about routine happenings, the angst of not posting, and the stress brought on by friends airing political views or sharing posts from sketchy sources. A day later, I changed my mind, for one primary reason that may also sound familiar: the moments of joy in catching up with old friends.
I’m not alone in this emotional push-pull from a platform that sucks people into a time sink that researchers see as a potentially unhealthy dependence that can be mentally damaging and even make us feel physically ill. I’ll get to the science, but first, I wanted to hear what my own Facebook friends think of these positives and negatives. So I asked:
On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being “a lot”)…
- How much JOY do you get from Facebook?
- How much ANGST does Facebook cause you?
Here’s what they said:
“Joy 6: Love keeping up with family and friends. Angst 7: Politics.”
“A year ago I would have said 2 joy / 8 angst. But nowadays, thanks to some…
