How Facebook Makes Us Unhappy Analysis

According to Statistica.com, approximately 3.34 billion people use some form of social media. That accounts for nearly half of the world’s population. In Maria Konnikova’s article “How Facebook Makes Us Unhappy”, Konnikova gathers numerous sources to validate her theory of how“Facebook isn’t the problem. It’s the symptom” (1). She presents studies from universities and psychologists on the effects that social media websites like Facebook have on people’s happiness. Many of the studies include the negative effects that Facebook has on its users, as well as some on its positive aspects. Konnikova successfully provides accurate and significant studies to lead readers to make their own conclusion about how social media affects people.
Konnikova …show more content…
Written in 2013, she uses many recent and credible sources from different universities and other psychologists. She has gathered studies from Carnegie Mellon, York University, University of Michigan, and so on. When a source is presented, Konnikova backs it with another source, and explains how the two are linked. For example, Valenzuela’s point on how Facebook actually makes people happy was reinforced with topics in Matthew Lieberman’s book about social media. Lieberman, who is a professor and has a Ph.D from Harvard University, makes Valenzuela’s finding sound reliable (https://www.psych.ucla.edu/facul …show more content…
Facebook can be related to the conversations and relationships that people form in real life. When a user is scrolling through the sea of Facebook statuses, actively engaging with others “increases social trust and engagement” (1). Even Valenzuela found that it “encourages political participation”, a topic that many people do not talk about (1). Whether online or in person, communicating and interacting allows both persons to create a positive relationship. Meanwhile, like Hana Krasnova and Beth Anderson both mentioned in the article, users who see their peers post an achievement will likely feel bad about themselves. Passively scrolling and not interacting will make the user feel alienated. It is the equivalent to seeing everyone enjoying themselves while being excluded from the fun. Unfortunately, many people join social media in hopes of staying connected and interacting with others, but the opposite tends to happen. If one were to logout of Facebook for the whole day, it would take them hours to catch up on what they have missed. There is such an excessive amount of content for everyone to actively engage in, hence why people keep