Too many facebook friends linked to anxiety

[Josh]

The more Facebook friends people have , the more likely they are to feel stressed out by the site, according to a new study by Scottish researchers.

Psychologists from Edinburgh Napier University surveyed 200 students on their use of Facebook, and found that a for a significant number of users the negative effect of the social network outweighed the benefits of staying in touch with friends and family.

Dr-Kathy-Charles “The results threw up a number of paradoxes,” said Dr Kathy Charles, who led the study. “For instance, although there is great pressure to be on Facebook there is also considerable ambivalence amongst users about its benefits.”
 
“Our data also suggests that there is a significant minority of users who experience considerable Facebook-related anxiety, with only very modest or tenuous rewards.And we found it was actually those with the most contacts, those who had invested the most time in the site, who were the ones most likely to be stressed.”

 Highlights of the study include:

*12 percent of respondents said that Facebook made them feel anxious.  Of these, respondents had an average of 117 'friends' each.  The remaining 88% of respondents, who said that Facebook did not make them feel anxious, had an average of 75 'friends' each.

*63 percent delayed replying to friend requests

*32 percent said rejecting friend requests led to feelings of guilt and discomfort

*10 percent admitted disliking receiving friend requests

Source

[rxantos]

I thought that having one life to live at a time was enough. It seem that many want to also have a virtual life.
The hunter that follows 2 preys, catches none.

Anyway, how many of Facebook friends are really friends? How many will take time to visit you or call you if you are sick in the hospital? How many will visit you, if you are in jail? The ones that care about you enough to move their but, those are your friends. All others are just acquaintances.

[wraith808]

I thought that having one life to live at a time was enough. It seem that many want to also have a virtual life.
The hunter that follows 2 preys, catches none.

Anyway, how many of Facebook friends are really friends? How many will take time to visit you or call you if you are sick in the hospital? How many will visit you, if you are in jail? The ones that care about you enough to move their but, those are your friends. All others are just acquaintances.

-rxantos (February 17, 2011, 12:41 PM)

That's a pretty limited definition of friend IMO.  I have true friends that live in foreign countries or across the country that could not do what you say, but have helped me in ways that are more important to me personally than visiting me if I'm in the hospital or in jail.  Friendship IMO is a matter of connection rather than trivialities such as physical presence.

[Josh]

* Josh likes wraith808's post.

[Stoic Joker]

You two ain't never been in jail, have you?

I thought that having one life to live at a time was enough. It seem that many want to also have a virtual life.
The hunter that follows 2 preys, catches none.

-rxantos (February 17, 2011, 12:41 PM)

This I understand.

A friend is someone that will help you move.

A best friend is someone that will help you move a body...

[nudone]

facebook's recent "wall" layout change meant i had to delete some of my "friends" as i just didn't want to see their stupid faces everytime i logged into facebook.

i don't hate these people; it just made me realise i'm not really their friend.

not really sure why your typical facebooker finds the need to accumulate non-friend friends. are we really that pathetic as a species.

[Paul Keith]

Unfortunately this is old news. Now too few friends can also be linked to anxiety as many of the social ad...err app games require inviting friends to well play far enough. Couldn't get past Crime City without inviting your friends to sell you an item for example.

[zridling]

Consider what Facebook is for most people and you can see why anxiety occurs: the "face" that most people on Facebook present to the world is fully positive, rarely if ever negative about self. If you throw yourself out there without your actual flaws listed and still can't gain as many friends as 'Becky,' then you're bound to feel down. My gripe with Facebook is that once you go in, you may never come out; you could spend all day there chasing others' daily trivia.

[nudone]

I think I must have only boring friends, and I must be very boring too; facebook takes up about 2 minutes of my day - some of that time is often spent "hiding" people's posts from my wall so I don't have to read their drivel ever again.

I think it's becoming clear to me that I'm not a true facebooker. DonationCoder is my home online and facebook is about as relevent as some celebrity gossip from ten years ago.

[wraith808]

^ You do more than me.  I don't even pay attention to the wall posts.  I just play games- and pretty much only until I reach the point where I have to recruit people.

[Paul Keith]

"recruit" people?

[Stoic Joker]

DonationCoder is my home online and facebook is about as relevent as some celebrity gossip from ten years ago.

-nudone (February 19, 2011, 04:10 AM)

+1 

[wraith808]

"recruit" people?

-Paul Keith (February 19, 2011, 11:30 PM)

Yes, you have to recruit people to increase the size of your gang, mafia, whatever in order to progress.

[Paul Keith]

Ahh yes, I thought you meant some other things like social causes. Thought you were rallying an army of donation coders.