Why Facebook Causes a Decrease in Mood

Another reason why Facebook stock is overvalued and could be a short. If the social media doesn’t help people become happier, it means users wouldn’t stay there. The stock was closed at $58.19 on Tuesday. Facebook management also seems to think so and why they have been making acquisitions at such aggressive valuations.

The article from Business Insider citing the research below:

In a recently published study, psychologists Christina Sagioglou and Tobias Greitemeyer of the University of Innsbruck report people “expect to feel better after using Facebook, whereas in fact, they feel worse.”

Their evidence suggests it’s not Internet browsing in general, but specifically social media use that brings people down. It also points to a likely reason: The nagging feeling that you’ve been wasting time.

“Our findings suggest that-on a daily basis-hundreds of millions of people engage in an activity that they consider (not very) meaningful,” they write In the journal Computers in Human Behavior, “which in turn dampens their mood.”

Of course, it’s possible that social media usage may have long-term positive effects that counteract the short-term downward mood documented here. And of course different people use social media in different ways; If you’re on Facebook promoting a cause, that’s quite different from idly noting what your friends are up to.

But given the strong connection between our well-being and the pursuit of meaningful activities, it’s hard to see how any medium that we largely equate with time-wasting could be a net positive. Perhaps Facebook isn’t really our friend after all.