Free Essay About Can Facebook Make You Sad?

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Reddit and Twitter have changed the way people interact and showcase their lives to the world. When Facebook was created millions of people joined it and within a decade it had almost 1.3 billion users. Although people made new friends, connected with old friends and family, it soon emerged that after a few years, Facebook was only making people sad and not any happier. Justin Mullins, in his article, “Can Facebook make you sad?” writes about the different ways in which the social media platform can make a person sad. Contrary to the popular belief that it connect more people and helps people get in touch with and stay in touch with old classmates, friends and family members, Mullins quotes researchers who say that Facebook indeed makes you sad. In 2009, when a research was initially conducted researchers found out that there was indeed a positive correlation, but fast forward five years the results weren't so positive.
Mullins says that the social interaction that happens in Facebook is not anywhere close to the real life encounters people have with others and that in fact brought down the satisfaction levels of the users. Mullins quotes a research conducted by the University of Michigan and the University of Leuven which states that over a period of time, the increased time spent on facebook only served to undermine the wellbeing of people instead of enhancing them. Mullins and the researchers make a valid point here as increased time spent on Facebook would mean the user gets to browse through most of the activities of the friends and cousins. And people are more likely to share their successes, holidays, weddings and births of children on facebook than let know their failures or boring life. A user that does not have the same level of adventure or an exciting life can feel left out and even feel jealous about the others. Jealousy in turn leads to sadness that they cannot measure up to their peers or friends.
Mullins also explains the law of averages where in any kind of setup there would be one person in the group who would be richer or happier than the rest. Popular people also have more friends on Facebook and being an online medium it easily broadcasts how popular each user is through the number of friends they have. This is good enough reason to make anyone feel glum. Having fewer friends might cause feelings of inadequacy and unhappiness and instead of being a meeting place, facebook only becomes a place that would make people sad and depressed. Mullins also argues that the users have “friendly world syndrome” where for the user every other person online has a better life.
Mullins’ article, although brutally honest about how users feel while using Facebook drives home the point about how online social media has created a sort of unreal world where everyone is happy and leads an interesting life. The article is not only based on the writer’s experience but also backed up by sound research. In the end, Mullins’ theory that Facebook makes a person sad seems not too far stretched. In answer to the question, “Can Facebook make you sad”, it must be admitted that facebook indeed makes people sad as they would never stop comparing themselves against one another. Even though others might seem to have a better time, the posts and constant updates must be taken with a pinch of salt as people often tend to exaggerate on social media. Mullins’ article makes sense in an age where real dates and encounters are shrinking and where people would rather follow others than take an active step towards spending time with them. Face to face encounters come down and in spite of having hundreds of friends online, the user would only feel lonely and sad.