How many times does your child log onto Facebook in a week? How many times in a day? More than once today?
Most people in the U.S. would answer yes to all these questions. Using social media is a natural part of our lives today. How many times have you seen your child open their phone and wander into Instagram, Snapchat, etc. without even thinking? Social media is something of a habit for many people living in our day and age.
Have you ever considered the impact that using social media so frequently could have on your child’s attitude? Researchers in Denmark wanted to get down to the bottom of this question, so they took over 1,000 Facebook users and asked half of them not to log on for just one week.
The results?
The folks in the group who stopped using Facebook experienced increased wellness. Specifically, they had greater life satisfaction and more positive emotions! The researchers hypothesized that some of those people who stopped logging on had less “Facebook envy”—they didn’t experience the negative feelings that come along with kids scrolling through their feeds and comparing themselves to their peers (which many of us are guilty of!). Anyone who falls into this category could benefit the most from limiting their Facebook use.
You can read more about the study here.
The researchers mentioned that these benefits become evident even when people simply cut back on their use of Facebook, so your child doesn’t necessarily have to quit “cold turkey” to improve their mood!
One of our SOVA ambassadors writes about the benefits of quitting social media here.
What do these findings mean to you? Do you think they extend to other social media websites, like Instagram? Let us know your thoughts, and whether this new information makes you consider how often you are logging on to Facebook and other websites!