Facebook has acknowledged that social media use can have negative impacts on user’s mental health.
The social media is feeling pressure from a growing chorus of critics raising alarms about the platform’s effect on society.
Researchers for the social network admitted in a blogpost that spending time on Facebook “passively consuming information” can leave people “feeling worse”.
A former Facebook executive made headlines with a speech that read “The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works. No civil discourse, no cooperation, misinformation, mistruth.”
Studies have repeatedly found that Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites can damage the emotional wellbeing of heavy users, particularly younger people, reports The Guardian.
The new post from Facebook’s director of research, David Ginsberg, and the research scientist Moira Burke painted the literature on the subject as mixed and inconclusive, arguing that Facebook use can also have positive mental health impacts.
A study finding that people who clicked on four times as many links as the average person on Facebook reported worse mental health.
The blog further acknowledged that reading about others online might lead to “negative social comparison” and that some theorise that the internet takes people away from in-person social engagement.
The post also referenced a psychologist’s claims that mobile phones have redefined modern relationships, making people “alone together”, and another expert’s arguments that an increase in teen depression is linked to technology use.
On Friday, Facebook launched a new feature called Snooze, which allows users to hide a person, page or group for 30 days without having to unfollow or unfriend them: “This will give people more control over their feed and hopefully make their experience more positive.”
The company also unveiled a tool called Take a Break, meant to help users going through break-ups, recognising that seeing an ex-partner’s social media activities can be emotionally painful.
The new feature gives people control over what they can see of their exes on Facebook and what their exes can see on their pages.
Zuckerberg replied as saying: “We want the time people spend on Facebook to encourage meaningful social interactions.”