What drives you to keep posting about your ‘good times’ on Facebook? Envy is a key motivator behind such posts and it also contributes to a decrease in mental well-being, says a new study.
“Creating a vicious cycle of jealousy and self-importance, Facebook leads users to feel their lives are unfulfilling by comparison, and hence they react by creating posts that portray their best selves,” said University of British Columbia Lead Researcher Professor Izak Benbasat.
Social media participation has always been linked to depression, anxiety and narcissistic behaviour, but the reasons have not been well explained. “We found envy to be the missing link,” Benbasat said. According to the researcher, travel photos are a leading contributor to Facebook envy, pushing friends to post their most perfect pictures. He says the unrealistic portrayal of life is not motivated by the desire to make others jealous, but rather a need to compete and keep up appearances.
For the study published in the journal Information Systems Research, Benbasat and his co-authors surveyed 1,193 Facebook users at a German university.
“Sharing pictures and stories about the highlights of your life — that’s so much of what Facebook is for, so you can’t take that away,” he said. Benbasat said the functionality of social networks encourages envy-inducing behaviour, and that’s unlikely to change.
“But I think it’s important for people to know what impact it can have on their well-being,” he warned.