If you’ve ever wanted to know why you should stop using Facebook, then read this guide now… it will change your life for the better

 

Facebook is great, right?

It keeps us in touch with friends and family so we’re never out of the loop. Who would ever want to leave and stop using Facebook, seriously? You’ve got to be crazy to even think such a thing, right?

The anxiety of not knowing what’s going in our thousands of friends lives could cause some serious damage. It’s best just to stay connected.

Wrong.

Let’s get serious: Facebook can be bad for your health. It can make you unhappy. And it can reduce your ability to connect with people and to lead a more rewarding life.

Facebook can also cause depression, lower your mood and cause anxiety. It can prevent you from undertaking enriching activities and seeing real friends.

You might not think the compulsive use of Facebook is a problem. You might not even know you’re doing it. Research has shown that more than 50% of Facebook users said they used Facebook compulsively. While 68% felt they couldn’t control their use of Facebook.

But what happens when you cut your use of Facebook?

Does the world fall in? Actually something more amazing than that happens:

You become more content and satisfied with your life.

A recent study from the Happiness Research Institute found that people who gave up Facebook for a week reported improved levels of happiness than those who stayed using it.

Another study by University of Michigan psychologist Ethan Kross last year found a direct link between time spent using Facebook and other social media and feelings of dissatisfaction and isolation.

The reasons to quit Facebook or at least take a break from it are so powerful and compelling that you should take them seriously. If you do you’re life will never be the same again. So read these nine science-backed reasons to leave Facebook now:

 

You’ll be less envious of others

Passively scrolling through Facebook news feeds and checking updates increases envy and social comparison.

Social comparison is something that we do naturally, but having access to Facebook increases the frequently with which we can compare with not only our close friends but the hundreds if not thousands of people we have added as friends.

It’s this constant ability to check in and compare yourself with others that directly leads to unhappiness. Research found that Facebook users were more likely to think that other people lived happier lives than their own, making them feel less satisfied and happy.

Another research study from Germany found that Facebook increased users sense that they were less adequate than others – again because they compared their lives with other people’s too often.

The reason is that there is no real social interaction or context to the comparison taking place on Facebook. Users are posting their best moments and not necessarily sharing the struggles and problems that we all face in our lives on a daily basis.

Posting that you’ve got a fabulous new job on Facebook might obscure the fact that it has taken you a long time and had a lot of job rejections. Or a great moment out with friends might obscure the fact that generally you were having a pretty boring time and would rather be at home with a mug of hot chocolate and a good book.

And what if you have a serious problem in your life. Maybe you’ve been struggling to find a new  partner or even get pregnant and you witness the thousands of mum’s taking part in the Facebook motherhood challenge. Sure, it’s an idea with good intentions, but it made one women want to punch her computer screen as she noticed that mother’s were now beginning to compete and, yes, compare. While other women struggling to get pregnant.

Social comparison can increase levels of resentment that you feel people are doing better than you, or even that you feel that they are maintaining a false positive image of their lives, which you also come to resent.

Researchers found that we can begin to resent the very reasons why we joined Facebook in the first place, which was to find out about other people’s live and share your own.

 

You’ll stop worrying that you’re missing out

The rise of Facebook and social media has caused the rise of a new phenomena or condition caused the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) . Researchers writing in the journal Computers in Human Health found that Facebook users were more likely suffer from FOMO. It found that high levels of FOMO were associated with lower levels of life satisfaction and positive mood. They defined FOMO as:

a pervasive apprehension that others might be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent… the desire to stay  continually connected to what others are doing.

FOMO is also defined as a fear of regret, which may lead to a compulsive concern that one might miss an opportunity for social interaction, a novel experience, profitable investment or other satisfying event.

People who had high levels of FOMO were more likely to be compulsive users as well, using Facebook and social media immediately before sleep, as soon as they got up in the morning, and during meal times and at work or study.

 

You’ll stop being an addict

You’re not an addict, right?

That’s people who take drugs, drink alcohol straight after they’ve woken up in the morning, or smoke at least 30 cigarettes a day.

Addicts are unhappy and not in control of their lives.

You’re in control, right, of when and how you want to use Facebook?

You couldn’t be addicted to Facebook, checking your phone for Facebook updates as soon as you wake up or just before you go to sleep. Or running to the bathroom at work to post on Facebook or like other people’s posts.

Well internet addiction is now included in the DSM-V (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) and there is even a Facebook addiction scale. And Facebook Addiction Disorder is a recognised condition that affects hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.

But how bad is it?

Another study in the Psychological Science Journal found that people craved social media more than tobacco and alcohol during the day and evening.

 

You’ll become more intelligent

Spending less time on Facebook or quitting Facebook completely will make you smarter.

There are the obvious reasons why your compulsive use of Facebook is making you dumb:

For instance, you’re spending less time doing other activities that are good for your brain, such as talking to other people, reading a book and trying to learn something new – all of which will make you smarter.

But there’s an even more worrying reason why Facebook is continually destroying your brain cells.

A study published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface found that Facebook increases the human behavior to copy others, which means we are less likely to think for ourselves and more likely to borrow, beg or steal ideas and answers to problems from our friends on Facebook.

Also through our constant comparison with other people’s lives we may be encouraged to copy their activities and ideas rather making decisions for ourselves about what makes us happy and more fulfilled.

 

You’ll stop wasting time

The Internet and Facebook is a big black hole of time wasting and you don’t even know it.

Researchers have found that people underestimate the amount of time they waste on Facebook. The distracting nature of Facebook also means that you are more likely to lose your chain of thought and waste hours each week instead of working.

Studies have found that the average user of Facebook who only logs in for 17 minutes a day has wasted 40 whole days on Facebook over a ten year period. That’s 40 whole days of  scrolling, liking and being a voyeur of other people’s lives.

More engaged users who spend upwards to an hour a day on Facebook will have spent 150 days.. that’s 150 days liking and posting photos of themselves.

 

You’ll be more charming and likeable

Facebook users have admitted that they are less likely to listen to other people’s conversations or make an effort to engage because they are more interested in posting an update or reading through other people’s posts.

A study of Facebook users found that they admitted to leaving a meal with friends in order to visit the bathroom in order to use Facebook.  More than 35% of respondents to the survey said they became angry or irritable as a result of them being prevented from updating their Facebook page when they wanted to.

Other research has found that we are spending more time maintaining superficial connections with people online and that we aren’t spending enough time working on real-life relationships.

Research by psychologist Professor Larry Rosen at California State University has revealed that Facebook is distracting us from developing real relationships.

Another study found that one in four of us spend more time socializing online than they we do with real people. Even when there is time to socialize with real people such as at the weekends, 11% of people will choose to stay indoors on social media.

Giving up Facebook means that you’ll not only have more time to invest in real relationships, but you’ll begin to remember what it was once like to care about what people were saying rather than what they are posting on Facebook.

Lisa Kelly, a Toronto-based psychotherapist, says she has observed the way  social networking causes depression and anxiety, which in turn leads users not being able to socialize with others:

People have lost the ability to be honest with each other about their feelings, insecurities or needs…They often do not know how to authentically connect with themselves and with others.

You’ll sleep better

Insomnia is reaching epidemic proportions. One in four workers in the United States says they suffer from insomnia.

Insomnia can lead to ill health, depression and anxiety and loss of productivity. Lack of sleep is costing the US $63 billion dollars alone in lost productivity each year.

A new report from the University of Pittsburgh and the National Institute of Health found that insomnia was being increasingly caused by the use of Facebook and other forms of social media either just before trying to go to sleep or when they were supposed to go to sleep.

The study found that about 30% of participants who said they had high levels of sleep disturbance were more likely to be obsessively checking their social media account during the day as well as the night.

Another study of parents revealed that they had discovered that their children were less productive at school and their grades were suffering because they were using social media instead of sleeping.

 

You can become an individual again

Not fixating on updating your posts means you can spend time thinking about what you would do if you were free of Facebook.

Also you’ll have the mental space away from Facebook to think about who you are and what you want from life instead of believing you need to do stuff because other people are doing it too.

Keep a diary of the time you spend on Facebook and how it makes you feel, and you’ll soon realised how much time and emotional energy it is eating up.

Then come with ideas about what you can do instead with all the time you have if you aren’t using Facebook so much.

 

You’ll be in control of your life

If you think that being on Facebook is an act of free will, think again:

Facebook is a big business that makes lots of money: they aren’t doing this for the good of humanity or because they have a soft spot for you and your friends.

Facebook makes lots of money by persuading you to spend as much time as possible on Facebook. This year they doubled their fourth quarter profits to $1.56 bn. And most of that comes from advertising.

They are constantly creating new ways for you to spend time on Facebook. How many mums, for instance, went back to Facebook to post a photo for the Motherhood Challenge. And how many people went on Facebook to see what all the fuss was about and to get evidence for what a bad/good/insensitive/enriching (use which ever phrase applies to you) idea the Motherhood Challenge was.

And when you post are you being yourself and are you in control of your own version of your life or the one you want people to see.

You could spend the time and energy on taking back control of your life.

You could be happier, more productive, and undertake more interesting and real activities. The world existed without Facebook and so you will you.

If you’re convinced by these compelling reasons to quit Facebook but you’re worried about how to start the process of giving up, or least reducing the amount of time you spend on Facebook, then check out this science-backed step-by-step guide to starting and planning a digital detox. We tested it out on more than 600 people and it works. So give it a try today.

 

 

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