Social media can be a great tool when harnessed for the powers of good — but we’re all painfully aware that it can very easily go horribly, horribly wrong. And hey, guess what? In case you needed more proof of that fact, BuzzFeed is happy to oblige with their latest video, “7 Facts That’ll Make You Delete Your Facebook.” Get ready to be horrified, everyone.
I’ll let you watch the whole video for the full effect, but here are a few highlights:
- The signs of Facebook addiction sound eerily like the way most of use the site on a daily basis.
- Facebook makes it significantly harder to get over a bad breakup.
- Fully one-third of divorce papers in both the U.S. and the UK cite Facebook—so either it’s contributing to the failure of relationships, or it’s becoming a convenient excuse for the failure of relationships.
- And spending too much time on it makes us unhappier with our own lives.
Uh… yikes.
The Huffington Post tracked down a lot of the studies mentioned in the video, so if you’re interested in reading more about each of them, head on over there for the details. Oh, and if you suspect you or someone you know might be addicted to Facebook, check out the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale; it was developed by the Norwegian researchers who pinpointed those indicators of Facebook addiction. It might be a useful tool. Alternatively, you could take The Oatmeal’s “How Addicted to Facebook Are You?” quiz, although I can’t speak to how scientifically accurate it might be (because, I mean, it’s The Oatmeal). In any event, it might be a good idea for us all to start restricting our usage of the social network a little more — or quitting it altogether (obligatory 99 Days of Freedom update: 30,601 people are “enjoying freedom,” according to the campaign’s website). We got along just fine before it existed; I’m sure we’ll be fine if we ditch it now, too.
