Is Facebook Making Us Insecure? The Mean Girl Syndrome

We all remember this memorable scene from Mean Girls. And turns out, Facebook is making us become that girl. A Utah University experiment entitled "They Are Happier and Having Better Lives than I Am”: The Impact of Using Facebook on Perceptions of Others' Lives" found the longer college students were online, the worse they felt about themselves. 

Research conducted on 452 college students in Utah Valley University shows that "those who have used Facebook longer agreed more that others were happier, and agreed less that life is fair, and those spending more time on Facebook each week agreed more that others were happier and had better lives. Furthermore, those that included more people whom they did not personally know as their Facebook “friends” agreed more that others had better lives."

The study states, "When people use social networks, they spend a significant amount of time reading postings (i.e., status updates) that contain other people's feelings, thoughts and activities. Thus, by focusing users on others, and away from the self, browsing a social network may reduce self-awareness, which would also lower self-control." (Worthan, 2011).

Research shows that heavier users of Facebook had higher body mass indexes and more credit card debt than less active users. 

Utah Valley University conducted an experiment to determine whether spending time on Facebook affects our healthy eating choices. The findings show that after spending five minutes on Facebook, users were more likely to chose a chocolate chip cookie over a granola bar, compared to those who had not been on Facebook. 

Why so many feelings? 

When scrolling down the newsfeed, we don't see reality- we see what others want us to see, the idealized self. 

People only post their achievements, most photogenic pictures, best outfits and wittiest statements to preserve their self-esteem. No one writes about how boring and mundane work was, the hour of traffic they were stuck in nor their insecurities.

We're all our own publicists and only want to put our best faces forward. 

So as viewers, when we log on we begin comparing ourselves with people at their best, when we don't realize that all we are seeing is a group of people trying to show the glamourized version of themselves.

"Facebook users tend to attribute the positive content presented on Facebook to others' personality, rather than situational factors (correspondence bias), especially for those they do not know personally" according to Huffington Post article, 7 Reasons Why We Act Differently Online.

Be honest- you aren't actually friends with most of your Facebook friends. So when you share a photo you want to show your actual friends (maybe 10% of your total Facebook friends), you end up sharing them with the 90 other randoms.

Have you ever caught yourself on the third profile pic of some random kid from your high school you haven't talked to in years then suddenly caught yourself and asked "Why am I even looking at this?" Well, chances are, those profile pictures have been yours before.

The fear of being judged and scrutinized is why we only post what makes us appear noble, smart, confident and beautiful in order to create an image not for who we are, but what we want others to see us as.

Let's call this idealized self the "Regina George".

The more time we spend on Facebook, the more time we are comparing ourselves with false perceptions of others, the "Regina George" versions of your friends. In real life, one cannot control every comment they make or face they show, but on Facebook you can.

Facebook creates a resume-like version of yourself, which we all know is exaggerated.

Comparing yourself with the idealized version of your acquaintances is like actually believing the Obama- Romney Presidential debates. It's nothing but an illusion.

"You know, Regina George only looks good in her Profile Pictures, anyways." 

Social comparison through Facebook has the potential of lowering our self-esteem, attributing to a lack of self-control. This diminished level of self-control makes us more likely to engage in indulgent and impulsive habits, like eating a piece of cake at midnight or running our credit cards dry. At the same time, the stage of importance Facebook grants you can give you a feeling of stardom, as if your every photo and thought is important enough to share with the world.

So what do you think? Is Facebook making you want to bake yourself a cake made of rainbows and smiles? Or does it raise your confidence level, giving you a sense of importance?

Study: Hui-Tzu Grace Chou and Nicholas Edge. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. February 2012, 15(2): 117-121. doi:10.1089/cyber.2011.0324.