Most of us have Facebook accounts. Most of us probably log in every day, or even multiple times daily, to check on our friends and see if anyone is trying to communicate with us.
However, I have begun to wonder if there is a hypervigilance associated with being glued to Facebook.
"Dr. Kathy Charles and her team of Psychologists at Edinburgh Napier University studied 200 students and their Facebook habits and found that an unexpected number of users experienced some sort of negative effects from the social network."
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/facebook-twitter-myspace-foursquare,news-10171.html
The stress and anxiety Dr. Charles noted was related to friend rejections and feeling the pressure of posting with so many people looking on-- and the stress increased with the number of Facebook "friends."
I have begun to wonder how much of our lives we are giving away to a virtual universe (Facebook) in which most of the players are virtual (we may have never met them in person) and whose comments, posts and opinions seem to carry so much weight.
If we are placing a heavy value upon our Facebook friends' opinions, so much so that we are upset when they ignore us or unfriend us, how does this benefit our life? Is this the healthiest path we could choose?
Miller's 1956 paper on working memory revealed that human beings can process 7 objects in their working memories, give or take another 2.
Miller, G. A. (1956). "The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information". Psychological Review 63 (2): 81–97. doi:10.1037/h0043158.
If we, as Miller (1956) noted, can only handle 7 objects in our working memories (give or take 2), what are we doing we when we spend hours on Facebook every day, skimming others' activities (of which we are not a part) instead of living our own lives?
What would happen if we choose to ignore Facebook for 2 or 3 days? Would our anxiety levels decrease? would we really miss anything important?
There is no doubt that Facebook is being used to help people, raise money for worthy causes, and effect social change in areas where political adversity restricts communication.
For most of us, though, it might be that a Facebook break would be a nice gift to give ourselves if we feel stressed and anxious.
Of course the irony is, I will post this blog on Facebook. :)
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