Facebook friend requests can trigger high anxiety: study
February 17, 2011
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Lesley Ciarula Taylor
STAFF REPORTER
The creepy potential for stalking ex-mates is among the disturbing downsides of Facebook, a forensic psychologist reports in a new study.
“One girl we interviewed put in a status update that she was working at the computer centre at the university. A half an hour later, this boy she used to date turned up and sat next to her,” Dr. Kathy Charles of Edinburgh’s Napier University, told the Star on Thursday.
Friend requests triggered high anxiety in many Facebook users, the study found.
Sixty-three per cent delayed replying to friend requests; 32 per cent said rejecting requests made them guilty or uncomfortable; and 10 per cent even admitted they dislike getting friend requests.
“These are social situations we haven’t had before.”
Charles says she is on Facebook herself and “I quite enjoy it.” Her study of 200 users, however, revealed damaging consequences that society is just beginning to understand.
People who reported Facebook in general increases their anxiety and stress (12 per cent) tended to have many more friends than the average user, said Charles. Does this mean already anxious people enlist more friends or that a lot of friends are a heavy social burden?
“The more friends you get, the more diverse your audience is getting,” she said. “They’re all there together seeing what you do and what you say. And you don’t necessarily want your elderly relatives or your boss to know the same things as your friends from the pub.”
The median number of Facebook friends was 107.
“We’re not saying Facebook makes a non-anxious person anxious. But for someone who is anxious, it gives them another medium for anxiety.”
Or for unwitting vulnerability, Charles said, by not realizing that friends of friends – who might be ex-boyfriends or ex-girlfriends – can still read your profile and see your pictures unless you specifically block them.
“Some of the words people used to describe it were ‘humiliated,’ ‘creepy,’ ‘weird,’ ‘sinister,’ ‘voyeuristic’,” she said. “And yet, they have it on their phones, they look at it dozens of times a day. Very often, they would say they don’t like it, but they can’t stop using it.”
Jealousy and inadequacy — old social evils — have found new life on Facebook, she said.
“Some people are using Facebook to manage their self-image and self-esteem and their status. They look to Facebook for affirmation, and when that doesn’t happen, they’re quite vulnerable to being upset.”
Alternately, those glossy self-promoters with exciting holiday pictures, digitally altered profile images, and albums bulging with fabulous club poses can make some users feel that “everybody is having more fun than them.”
It’s not all bad news, Charles said. For example, Facebook fans extolled the site’s ability to keep them in touch with family and friends.
The study did make her realize, though, that “people need to know how to manage their use of it, to try to minimize the potential harm.”
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