Facebook is often described as bad for your mental well-being, often because it makes you jealous of other people’s lives.
But researchers at the University of Oxford now claim that criticisms that the site is bad for you are “popular misconceptions” with no basis in fact.
The experts analyzed data from nearly a million people in 72 countries over 12 years to understand more about Facebook’s impact on well-being.
They found no evidence linking Facebook use to widespread psychological harm — and the social network might even be good for you.
The new study contrasts with a vast body of previous research and online criticism that Facebook can seriously damage a person’s mental health.
Facebook has been linked to negative mental well-being time and time again, but this study indicates there is no connection (file photo)
Described as the “largest of its kind” to examine Facebook, it was conducted by experts at the Oxford Internet Institute, which previously concluded that social media does not harm teens.
Meta-owned Facebook was involved in the study, but only to provide data — and it did not commission or fund the study, the new study authors point out.
“We carefully examined the best available data and found that they did not support the idea that Facebook membership is associated with harm, quite the opposite,” said Professor Andrew Przybylski, author of the study.
In fact, our analysis indicates that Facebook may be associated with positive well-being, (but) this is not to say that this is evidence that Facebook is good for user well-being.
“On the contrary, the best global data does not support the idea that the expansion of social media has a negative global association with well-being across countries and different demographics.”
Facebook is one of the platforms owned by Mark Zuckerberg’s firm Meta, along with WhatsApp, Instagram, and a new site similar to Twitter called Threads.
However, this new Oxford study only looked at Facebook, so it’s questionable whether the findings can be applied to social media as a whole.
Mark Zuckerberg (pictured) created Facebook in his college dorm in 2004. It’s now part of his billion-dollar empire ‘Meta’
For the study, the researchers looked at well-being data – determined through questionnaires – taken from 946,798 people in 72 countries over 12 years.
This data period ran from 2008 – the year Facebook replaced MySpace as the largest social media platform – to 2019.
Researchers examined active Facebook users in men and women in two age ranges: 13 to 34 and 35 and older.
Looking at each country’s population separately, they found no positive correlation between Facebook use and negative experiences or poor life satisfaction.
In many cases, there were positive correlations between Facebook and indicators of well-being, such as having positive experiences in life.
The results also showed that the association between Facebook adoption and well-being was slightly more positive for men than for women across all measures of well-being.
Also, Facebook adoption and well-being was generally more positive for younger individuals in all countries, and these effects were small but significant.
Looking at the population of each country separately, experts found no evidence that Facebook use has a negative effect on well-being. Pictured, charts for two countries showing the relationship between daily active Facebook users (red), life satisfaction (blue), negative experiences (green), and positive experiences (purple) between 2008 and 2019
Graph shows daily active users (DAU) and monthly active users (MAU) of Facebook in the 72 countries during the study period (2008 to 2019)
Despite popular claims about social media’s detrimental impact on well-being, the new study found “no evidence.”
“In our new study, for the first time, we cover the broadest possible geography, analyzing Facebook usage data combined with robust well-being data, giving us a truly global perspective of the impact of Facebook use on well-being,” said co-author Professor Vuorre. .
The team argues that “negative psychological outcomes associated with social media are common in academic and popular writing.”
Certainly, previous studies have suggested that Facebook use and well-being are linked, especially in children and teens.
For example, a 2013 German study found that one in three people are more dissatisfied with their lives after visiting Facebook.
Positive images of friends enjoying vacations or commenting on how happy their lives are can arouse feelings of jealousy, the authors said at the time.
Meanwhile, a 2015 study found that children who spend more than three hours a day on social media, including Facebook, are twice as likely to have mental health problems.
And a 2012 study from Utah Valley University found that college students felt worse about themselves after spending more time on Facebook.
It’s not all negative, though, and the new Oxford study isn’t the first to argue in favor of Facebook.
For example, a 2019 study from Michigan State University claimed that Facebook improves the mental health of adults over the age of 30 while warding off depression and anxiety.
Facebook is known for reviving relationships between old friends and forging new connections between people with common interests.
This can be seen as a contrast to rival Twitter, which has long been criticized as a pedestal for spreading hate online, especially under Elon Musk’s ownership.