Does Facebook help or hinder your effort to connect with others in a meaningful way?

[JAVO]

On the surface, Facebook provides an invaluable resource for fulfilling the basic human need for social connection. Rather than enhancing well-being, however, these findings suggest that Facebook may undermine it.

from: http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0069841

"Abstract: Over 500 million people interact daily with Facebook. Yet, whether Facebook use influences subjective well-being over time is unknown. We addressed this issue using experience-sampling, the most reliable method for measuring in-vivo behavior and psychological experience. We text-messaged people five times per day for two-weeks to examine how Facebook use influences the two components of subjective well-being: how people feel moment-to-moment and how satisfied they are with their lives. Our results indicate that Facebook use predicts negative shifts on both of these variables over time. The more people used Facebook at one time point, the worse they felt the next time we text-messaged them; the more they used Facebook over two-weeks, the more their life satisfaction levels declined over time. Interacting with other people “directly” did not predict these negative outcomes. They were also not moderated by the size of people's Facebook networks, their perceived supportiveness, motivation for using Facebook, gender, loneliness, self-esteem, or depression. On the surface, Facebook provides an invaluable resource for fulfilling the basic human need for social connection. Rather than enhancing well-being, however, these findings suggest that Facebook may undermine it."

Does Facebook help or hinder your effort to connect with others in a meaningful way?

 

[Ivy]

Facebook has had a net positive effect for me- I can stay connected with people I care about but who live too far away to see regularly. Also, because of Facebook, people can know that I love them even though I don't want to see them or talk to them all the damn time.

Maybe it's partly because I don't friend people who do that humblebrag thing. And maybe it's because it's not my only means of connection- it's a way to maintain connection when face-to-face isn't possible, and also a way to arrange face-to-face connections with people I care about.

 

[The Ü™]

Well, I get a lot of Likes on my timeline/wall posts, so I suppose that's something.

 

[five sounds]

Facebook has had a net positive effect for me- I can stay connected with people I care about but who live too far away to see regularly. Also, because of Facebook, people can know that I love them even though I don't want to see them or talk to them all the damn time.

Maybe it's partly because I don't friend people who do that humblebrag thing. And maybe it's because it's not my only means of connection- it's a way to maintain connection when face-to-face isn't possible, and also a way to arrange face-to-face connections with people I care about.

This.

 

[Ghost of the dead horse]

Hinders. It's failbook.

 

[Mole]

Does Facebook help or hinder your effort to connect with others in a meaningful way?

I think our question is, does Typology Central undermine our well-being?

And then the interesting question, how does Typology Central undermine our well-being.

 

[Jaguar]

I think our question is, does Typology Central undermine our well-being?

And then the interesting question, how does Typology Central undermine our well-being.

After 12,000+ posts, has your well-being been undermined? Confess your sins, my son.
As for Facebook, someone ought to take a flamethrower to it.

 

[wolfy]

I don't know about meaningful contact, prolly not. Dunno. But facebook is good in that I have reconnected with old friends. It also gives me a bit of Japanese reading and writing study. And an outlet for some photo creativity and general mucking around creativity. The only downside to facebook is Jag is not my friend on there. If only, one day...

 

[kelric]

I went ahead and voted "hinders"... but it's complicated. It's more that seeing Facebook makes me feel worse about myself. I've had an account since 2009, but until very recently had gone years without ever logging in. In general, I dislike, and certainly distrust it. Not the people on it, but the organization itself. I don't like posting things un-anonymously for the world (or even "friends" -- the vast majority of my "friends" are "people I sorta knew in high school but never really talked to much").

I went there a month or so ago to look for pictures that a friend took at a real-life get-together, and wound up reading whatever it is they call my home page these days (the ones with posts from "friends"). It was basically an exercise in "see how much more awesome these people's lives are than mine" and "see how my old high school classmates vehemently disagree with my politics". Rather depressing, actually. Well, that and seeing who likes to play Facebook games. The most saddening aspect of it is seeing how people I've tried and failed to reconnect with over the years are active there with their other friends.

I just can't make myself want to participate in that sort of public, infinitely searchable, archived-for-as-long-as-my-data-can-have-profit-extracted-from-it exposure, but it seems expected if one actually wants to use it as a platform to connect with people.

Hence... the feeling worse about it. But I still pop on to read when I get particularly bored. Shouldn't, but I do.

 

[highlander]

The key word in the poll is "meaningful".

It does help me to keep up with what's going on in other's lives but there isn't a lot of depth there. Still, it helps to facilitate a continued connection even if it's pretty superficial.

 

[Snoopy22]

It helps in that it allows me to keep up on what family members are up to, and to be in limited touch with old Navy buddies. Along with being able to limit any view to only friends (minus the NSA), keeps it pleasant to me.

 

[Stigmata]

To me, Facebook (and most social media outlets) serve to dilute the inherent foundations of interpersonal relationships. Even on this site, "Friend" is nothing but a grandiose term for what is essentially "Hey, your posts resonate with me on some level."

Maybe the connotation of a Friend has changed, or maybe I'm attributing too much value behind what is essentially terminological semantics.

 

[Ginkgo]

To be honest it seems like more of a time sink that neither helps nor hinders my relationships.

The efforts I've made to connect with others meaningfully through facebook could have been better spent texting, even.

I think that seeing peoples' positive status updates, scenic vacation shots, and photos with family/friends holds the potential to seriously depress a facebook user the more they just sit there in the glow of an incandescent laptop screen. In that sense, it can practically distance you from other people. Especially considering the fact that facebook only reflects one side of your character.

There happens to be 2 facebook accounts in my name - one that I lost access to a couple years ago. When I look at my old one, I look very happy and energetic. However, IIRC, I felt far more anxious and annoyed than anything. If there's such a large chasm between what people present on facebook and how they actually are, then the amount of you that gets lost in the ether is comparable to what gets lost on a forum like this. Probably even more so.

 

[EJCC]

Helps. Definitely helps. And for so many reasons!

Just a few:

1) I can maintain regular contact with close friends who are far away and/or don't do a lot of texting and/or HATE texting

2) A conversation that we had in person can continue for hours, or even days, online

3) Distant friends come out of the woodwork to comment on my posts, and I can do the same for others, which obviously brings us much closer -- plus, it's much less awkward than initiating via phone/email

4) I get invited to events that people create on Facebook and wouldn't even consider texting or emailing about

5) When people are forthcoming on Facebook, you can learn a LOT about them -- and when you yourself are forthcoming on Facebook, it's much less of an emotional drain than if you updated everyone separately, which by nature means you can stay closer to people and become closer to even more, without it being a hassle

 

[EJCC]

Facebook has had a net positive effect for me- I can stay connected with people I care about but who live too far away to see regularly. Also, because of Facebook, people can know that I love them even though I don't want to see them or talk to them all the damn time.

Maybe it's partly because I don't friend people who do that humblebrag thing. And maybe it's because it's not my only means of connection- it's a way to maintain connection when face-to-face isn't possible, and also a way to arrange face-to-face connections with people I care about.

To me, Facebook (and most social media outlets) serve to dilute the inherent foundations of interpersonal relationships. Even on this site, "Friend" is nothing but a grandiose term for what is essentially "Hey, your posts resonate with me on some level."

Maybe the connotation of a Friend has changed, or maybe I'm attributing too much value behind what is essentially terminological semantics.

Maybe people who have a ton of Facebook friends are like that -- but I'm not, and most of my friends aren't. Everyone I'm Facebook friends with, is either a friendly acquaintance (who I wouldn't mind being closer friends with), or a friend, or a family member.

The key word in the poll is "meaningful".

It does help me to keep up with what's going on in other's lives but there isn't a lot of depth there. Still, it helps to facilitate a continued connection even if it's pretty superficial.

Very good point.

In my case, it is most useful for just that -- maintaining a strong connection -- and also useful for bringing someone from a friendly acquaintance to a shallow-ish friend. Going deeper than that would be for texting, emailing, and Real Life.

 

[skylights]

Helps with long distance friendships and family only. Everything else is moot, I just like stalking old acquaintances to see what they're up to.

I only friend people who I actually know or have known to a friendly degree IRL.

 

[Coriolis]

As for Facebook, someone ought to take a flamethrower to it.

Yes, that and Microsoft.

The key word in the poll is "meaningful".

It does help me to keep up with what's going on in other's lives but there isn't a lot of depth there. Still, it helps to facilitate a continued connection even if it's pretty superficial.

Yes. That and the privacy risks have kept me off it so far, and I see little reason to join in future.

Helps. Definitely helps. And for so many reasons!

Just a few:

1) I can maintain regular contact with close friends who are far away and/or don't do a lot of texting and/or HATE texting

2) A conversation that we had in person can continue for hours, or even days, online

3) Distant friends come out of the woodwork to comment on my posts, and I can do the same for others, which obviously brings us much closer -- plus, it's much less awkward than initiating via phone/email

4) I get invited to events that people create on Facebook and wouldn't even consider texting or emailing about

5) When people are forthcoming on Facebook, you can learn a LOT about them -- and when you yourself are forthcoming on Facebook, it's much less of an emotional drain than if you updated everyone separately, which by nature means you can stay closer to people and become closer to even more, without it being a hassle

What's wrong with email?

 

[Stigmata]

Maybe people who have a ton of Facebook friends are like that -- but I'm not, and most of my friends aren't. Everyone I'm Facebook friends with, is either a friendly acquaintance (who I wouldn't mind being closer friends with), or a friend, or a family member.

Well, my post was focusing more on a macro level than a micro level, but that's great it's a net-positive for you. The nature of the medium is one that both enables and encourages mass accumulation of users, so explicitly that they're constantly trying to link you together with other users using the most vague and trivial of criteria to establish a pseudo-connection between users(Hello X, We'll recommend Y as a friend. You and him just so happened to have pissed in the same airport urinal 7 years ago on your trip to Delaware).

Your experience is a result of a desire to connect to a subset of individuals; I imagine there's a concerted amount of effort on your end to establish said connection, and would have a greater likelihood of persisting in a cross-medium platform with the people you've chosen to friend, than, say, the person who has accumulated 700+ friends.

 

[highlander]

Yes. That and the privacy risks have kept me off it so far, and I see little reason to join in future.

What are the specific things that make you uncomfortable from a privacy perspective? What's the real risk?

 

[skylights]

Your experience is a result of a desire to connect to a subset of individuals; I imagine there's a concerted amount of effort on your end to establish said connection, and would have a greater likelihood of persisting in a cross-medium platform with the people you've chosen to friend, than, say, the person who has accumulated 700+ friends.

Which, speaking of, I think is the direction social media ought to evolve - a way to improve contact with people who are meaningful to you - but unfortunately I don't think that's where the big bucks are.