FACEBOOK ON: EMOTIONS AND RELATIONSHIPS

Is it Facebook's fault or user's fault?

“Facebook can be a fun and healthy activity if users take advantage of the site to stay connected with
family and old friends and to share interesting and important aspects of their lives. However, if Facebook
is used to see how well an acquaintance is doing financially or how happy an old friend is in his
relationship—things that cause envy among users—use of the site can lead to feelings of depression.”

-Margaret Duffy

A professor and chair of strategic communication at the MU School of Journalism, says that how
Facebook users use the site makes a difference in how they respond to it.

Facebook for me, is a useful application that let us connect with other people but for those who use
this social media for their satisfactions, merely create bad effects emotionally. As what have Ms. Duffy
said, a Facebook user who has a low self-esteem, intended to compare his/her life with friends on social
media. Especially when that user feels so alone and has a lack of attention, so he/she depends on how
people will react on his/her posts, the more likes, it likely boosts the user's self-esteem but when he/she
is not satisfied with the likes that he/she got, the more feeling of not being accepted that causes
depression.

Facebook affects our emotions, especially to those who are in young age and most engaged with
social media. Posts on Facebook can easily get through user's eyes, just by scrolling. Especially when
some users are experiencing struggles in life, when they see their friend's happy moments posts, they
feel sadder because they envy those who experience success and happiness. They envy those who have
the things that they don't have. Users must have self-awareness because the more they feel that feeling
of envy, they should refresh their minds by seeking help to family and friends in reality. Facebook in
some ways became bad if used improperly by the user. The question for those who feel envy to the
achievements and happiness they see on their timeline is "How if the posts that will pop up on their
timeline are all about negativity?" will they feel happy or being comforted? Of course not, all of us are
experiencing troubles in life. Those people who posts happy things online are also struggling on their
lives but they don't want to stress themselves too much, that is how seeing positivity over negativity.
Simply, the user is the one who causes his/her own stress virtually and in reality.

A study reveals that Facebook likes affects psychological well-being of a person if he/she doesn't
have a sense of purpose, that Facebook users won't feel lonely, envy, and unimportant if they focus more
on communicating with their old friends and family because the more they post a photo or an update
and didn't get enough likes which also affects their emotions and behavior resulting to a bad feeling. Of
course that is for those who have low self-esteem, they tend to find attention online and if they get more
likes it makes the feel confident.
 Facebook affects our relationship with people. It's true that this site enables us to meet new people
virtually and the common thing we do when we open this site is to hit the button "like" every time there
are posts that caught our attention. Facebook offers a lot of entertainment and it's the reason why some
users got addicted to it. They spend more time on Facebook rather than talking personally to their family
and friends. The personal communication is losing and it affects the relationship with their loved ones.

Another study states that Facebook is making people less imaginative. Sometimes we can't avoid
the feeling of being bored and we imagine things just to keep ourselves entertained but today is
different, people simply turn to social networking sites when they are bored. This often leads them to
become just as bored, but since they are somewhat stimulated, this turns into a habit. Over time, they
don’t use their thoughts to stimulate them, and so it becomes harder and harder for them.

As what Mark Zuckerberg said, "We use that (Facebook) to help people connect. We run ads to
make it a free service everyone in the world can afford." Yes, indeed, Facebook lets us connect to people
around the world and it entertain people. Many say that Facebook causes addiction and affects human
psychologically but if we're going to think further, the purpose of the Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is
good.

Is it really the Facebook who affects people's emotions and relationships or it is the user's
irresponsible actions through the use of the site? For me, the users are the responsible one in
maintaining their image good on or off the social media. If user would act responsibly online and know
his/her limitations, things won't get worse. That is having a purpose upon using Facebook. What is really
your purpose of using it? Is it because you just want to be entertained? For me, I use Facebook for
entertainment but not all the time, I use it to connect with my relatives who are far from us, and lastly to
engage myself on learning new things such as joining on group pages that involves my interests. Since I
enjoy drawing faces or portraits, I join Art group pages that enables me to meet experts in art and also it
helps me to get useful tips to draw better. I believe that connecting with experts makes you better.

Lastly, as a Facebook user, we are the responsible one. We are the one who control our accounts.
Knowing our limitations and purpose are very important.