How does using Facebook really affect you? Does it make you a better—or worse—person? The latest research claims that while social networking may temporarily boost your self-esteem, it lessens your self-control both offline and online.
A paper by the University of Pittsburgh and Columbia Business School, published online in the Journal of Consumer Research, indicates that all those 'likes' and bolstering comments from your social circle tend to make us feel better about ourselves. But, according to the report in Science Daily, that feeling comes at a cost.
After experiencing a high while checking up on close friends via social networks, many of us then feel the low, displaying a drop in self-control resulting in greater Body Mass Index (BMI) and credit card debt.
"To our knowledge, this is the first research to show that using online social networks can affect self-control," said one of the study's coauthors, Andrew T. Stephen, who surveyed more than 1,000 U.S. Facebook users. "We have demonstrated that using today's most popular social network, Facebook, may have a detrimental affect on people's self-control."
As part of the testing, subjects were told to surf either CNN or Facebook, then choose between a cookie or granola bar. You guessed it, the social bunnies gravitated toward the cookie. They were also more likely to give up on the word puzzle they were given after reading Facebook or gossip site, TMZ.
Further testing correlated the extent of social networking with amount of credit card debt and BMI.
"The results suggest that greater social network use is associated with a higher body-mass index, increased binge eating, a lower credit score, and higher levels of credit-card debt for individuals with strong ties to their social network," wrote the researchers.
Interesting results. What's your take on these findings?
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