Facebook Boosts Your Self-Esteem 139
An anonymous reader writes "Using Facebook can increase your self-esteem, according to a new study from Cornell University researchers, published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. Researchers Amy Gonzales and Jeffrey Hancock conducted the experiment with three groups of 21 students each in the university's Social Media Lab. The first one was the control group, which sat in front of blank computer screens for three minutes. The second group of individuals had mirrors propped up against their computer monitors and spent their three minutes looking at their own reflections. The third group was allowed to surf their own Facebook profiles and its associated tabs for the allotted time. At the end, all three groups were given a self-esteem questionnaire."
Firsst Post! (Score:2, Funny)
This blank comments page boosts my self esteem considerably.
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You know what else boosts self esteem?
A handjob.
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I hate pseudo-science. It is the only thing I really agreed with any Scientologist on. (Tom Cruise on Psychiatry) In general, there is a lot of pseudo-science, and unfortunately it is not only in Psychiatry. Doctors are often wrong and don't do their patients justice, only wanting to give them a prescription as we've been conditioned to expect and get us on our way. If only the placebo effect actually could cure everything, and all these chemicals we're given didn't have such negative side effects.
Either sc
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Those who need to utilize Facebook to build self esteem need to arrange a therapy appointment with Doctor Ermey. [youtube.com]
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Doing something increases your self-esteem (Score:5, Informative)
They should have had a group surfing the web, but not using Facebook.
Re:Doing something increases your self-esteem (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah this is a pretty unscientific study. Disappointing from Cornell.
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Yeah this is a pretty unscientific study. Disappointing from Cornell.
Come now, you're dissing this 'must read' journal [liebertpub.com]:
The journal is a "must read" for psychologists; sociologists; designers and developers of internet technology, mobile devices, and online and virtual games; business executives; educators, and opinion leaders interested in the effects of interactive technologies. The journal’s expanded coverage explores the impact of Social networks, Internet, multi-media, and virtual reality on behavior and society.
I mean, it was peer reviewed! Scientific Goodness! Truth, justice and the American Way! This will change everything! While not bothering to read TFA, I would wager there is a p value or two thrown about in an intellectual manner.
/snark attack OFF
Sounds like another publication to feed the ever expanding appetite for junk 'science'. Grr. I'm just going to crawl back in bed until it's time for my noonday meds.
This post is must read. (Score:1)
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The journal is a "must read" for psychologists; sociologists; designers and developers of internet technology, mobile devices, and online and virtual games; business executives; educators, and opinion leaders interested in the effects of interactive technologies. The journal’s expanded coverage explores the impact of Social networks, Internet, multi-media, and virtual reality on behavior and society.
Have any tests been done to gauge the success of psychologists; sociologists; designers and developers of internet technology, mobile devices, and online and virtual games; business executives; educators, and opinion leaders interested in the effects of interactive technologies who haven't read the article? How do we know it's a must read?
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Isn't this like finding a jury for the OJ Simpson trial?
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I wish I had mod points. Staring at a blank surface for three minutes lowers self esteem. Staring at a mirror for three minutes lowers self esteem. I wonder how many of them spent three minutes thinking "how much am I paying to be at this school?"
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I wish I had mod points. Staring at a blank surface for three minutes lowers self esteem.
Staring at a mirror for three minutes lowers self esteem.
I wonder how many of them spent three minutes thinking "how much am I paying to be at this school?"
Speak for yourself Quasimodo.
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I wish I had mod points. Staring at a blank surface for three minutes lowers self esteem.
Staring at a mirror for three minutes lowers self esteem.
I wonder how many of them spent three minutes thinking "how much am I paying to be at this school?"
Speak for yourself Quasimodo.
Nice contribution. I thought maybe you were a school-member who went into a jock-rage at the thought that I may be putting down your school, but your comment history shows that you just like being a douche.
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Should have had someone in a room talking to friends also in the room as well. That would kill the other scores.
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The Hippocratic oath in a nutshell: from "do no harm" to "rob me of my vas defrens."
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It was under "idle" and had "facebook" in the title. So clearly it was slashdot's fault that you wandered in here and then weren't interested.
If no-one moans about the pointless shit that gets passed off as news on here sometimes, the "editors" won't know how their readership feels until the day of the glorious revolution when they're lined up against a wall and shot.
Do something. Feel better. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Doing something remotely productive increases your self-esteem.
So does posting on slashdot.
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Doing something remotely productive increases your self-esteem.
You call being on Facebook "remotely productive"?
I'll bet everyone here on Slashdot one hundred billion dollars and personalized sharks with laser beams that this study will not be able to be reproduced.
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I want to see a study of people in national parks vs. Facebook vs. MMO -- if we're lucky it'll give me hope for humanity.
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It becomes debatable whether "Facebook" can be classified as something productive, however... but I would agree with you. I cannot see how sitting, staring at a blank computer monitor is a good control. Perhaps browsing normal websites not pertaining to oneself, or reading email, would be a better control. You know. NORMAL activities.
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THAT would be realistic!
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I've found Facebook has the opposite effect (lower self esteem).
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Me too. My dog [facebook.com] has more friends than I do.
I don't use Facebook (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't use Facebook. Obviously my self-esteem can not be boosted any higher.
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Well, that and downloading porn.
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Of course not, silly. I stare at my reflection in the screen of my iMac and marvel at how cool I look and how good I am.
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So what do you do all day, then? Stare at a blank monitor or something?
Why, are you unable to not use facebook whenever you're at a computer?
I use LinkedIn instead (Score:2)
I have a minimal Facebook account, whereas I spend much more time on LinkedIn. I really don't care about my friends' personal lives. I don't care if they like Charlie Sheen, and I don't care if their little baby is so cute. What I do care about is the following:
Basically, I want to know if they're worth my time. LinkedIn gives me that, and more.
Re:I use LinkedIn instead (Score:4, Insightful)
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Friends are interested in each others' personal lives, almost by definition. If you're not, I wouldn't call those your "friends", they're more like coworkers/peers. And how on earth would their education, workplace, accomplishments, etc. change on a regular enough basis to require any significant amount of time spent in keeping up-to-date on it?
And once you've decided that someone is "worth your time", what then?
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Friends are interested in each others' personal lives, almost by definition. If you're not, I wouldn't call those your "friends", they're more like coworkers/peers. And how on earth would their education, workplace, accomplishments, etc. change on a regular enough basis to require any significant amount of time spent in keeping up-to-date on it?
And once you've decided that someone is "worth your time", what then?
He hunts them down and slaughters them mercilessly, like a sex panther.
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like a sex panther
Pff, it's the sex de-pant-hers they should be worried about.
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Funny. I have a LinkedIn account I almost never use. Unless I plan on looking for a new job I really am not that concerned about some guy I worked with for 2 weeks 5 years ago.
I do have friends all over the world, though, and it is often difficult to keep in touch with them. Facebook makes it infinitely easier. Sure people abuse it and post way more than anybody ever cares to see but it definitely has its worth, too.
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That might be the saddest misconception of friend I've ever seen. I feel sorry for you, and even sorrier for them.
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Let me guess; you don't have many friends.
But your reasoning is sound. Heaven forbid that you should find yourself wasting time on some sub-human plebeian without a PhD.
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Yeah. The other night I was looking for this one particular picture of a friend, and going farther and farther back in time through the thousand or so of pictures spanning back to around six years ago, it actually started to feel slightly creepy. She was like ... 11 or 12 back then.
Well, that's hardly surprising if she is, like, seventeen or eighteen now.
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Not reliable (Score:1)
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, if they say they have WMDs they have WMDs, screw the sources.
You do realize that Saddam regularly made public television broadcasts in Iraq saying he had WMD and threatening to use them if Iran attacked ... RIGHT?
No? You didn't? Perhaps you should learn a little truth before making retarded assumptions and listening to random douche bags without a clue.
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, if they say they have WMDs they have WMDs, screw the sources.
You do realize that Saddam regularly made public television broadcasts in Iraq saying he had WMD and threatening to use them if Iran attacked ... RIGHT?
Citation?
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Self-esteem. (Score:2)
Who gives a fuck? What esteem I hold myself in is nowhere near is pertinent as the esteem others hold me in. Being a self-involved twat engaging in pseudo-social activities on a social-networking website, where I present myself to the world in my best possible light (and often driveling endlessly about inane trivial personal thoughts and events in the hopes of getting "likes" and "fans" and "friends") is the equivalent of being a cup-stacking champion.
Now, please mod this comment down so that no sense of hy
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If you have a high self esteem people will hold you in higher esteem. I am sure there have been more scientific studies on that. I am not saying to be conceited but having a positive self image is usually more attractive to people. It is actually healthier to not worry so much about what other people think about you and to not compare yourself to other people.
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Pseudo-self-esteem from pseudo-social activities is not "real". Nobody thinks better of you, because you spam your facebook page with really "confident" inane trivial crap. People react to a sense of self derived from merit. From accomplishment. From personality. They see through bullshit. Further, regardless of what they taught us in public school, what you think about yourself is almost entirely irrelevant. There is an endless supply of self-assured wastes of oxygen. I'd rather be judged on my merit and a
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You misunderstand me on two points. First I wasn't trying to validate anything about Facebook or this study. I don't believe Facebook has anything to do with self-esteem.
Second - I don't agree with the people who think self-confidence is going to save the world but I will tell you that sad saps who hate themselves aren't going to be making a whole lot of new friends. Nobody wants to hang around with Debbie Downer. And the people who have the lowest self esteem are usually too worried about thinking abou
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Pseudo-self-esteem from pseudo-social activities is not "real". Nobody thinks better of you, because you spam your facebook page with really "confident" inane trivial crap. People react to a sense of self derived from merit. From accomplishment. From personality. They see through bullshit. Further, regardless of what they taught us in public school, what you think about yourself is almost entirely irrelevant. There is an endless supply of self-assured wastes of oxygen. I'd rather be judged on my merit and accomplishments and even personality than just looking in a mirror and telling myself "gosh darn it, I love myself!" and therefore deluding myself into believing that nothing else mattered but my own opinion of self. And chances are, if I accomplish those things, I *will* feel good about myself. And posting inane garbage on Facebook to rack up friend numbers or mingle with pretend-friends online is not accomplishing anything. It's the most empty form of self-esteem.
I agree with you on pretty much every point. Real self esteem is based on merit and accomplishments, and without those anything you tell yourself or others is empty. The only counter-point I would make is that it's not a given that simply accomplishing things leads to feeling good about yourself; there are plenty of people who fail, for whatever reason, to acknowledge their own accomplishments and merits. Without that acknowledgement, the accomplishments aren't worth much in terms of self-esteem. And tho
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What esteem I hold myself in is nowhere near is pertinent as the esteem others hold me in.
Except for the fact that your self-esteem has a massive influence on how others look at you. Ever heard the question "How should anybody else like you, if you don't even like yourself?" It is also my personal experience that people who like themselves are very often more enjoyable to be around than those who don't.
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for those curious about the self-esteem test (Score:1)
Here's an example of one of the questions:
Which of the following statements would you say describes you most accurately?
This is stupid (Score:2)
I know to get a PHD you have to have original work but this seems like stretching it a bit. What if the facebook page had negitive comments attached. I don't think they checked that one. What if the picture on Facebook was a bad hair day? So many variables so little time.
questionaire? (Score:2)
Sounds like a load of barnacles to me.
Also, purely observational studies? Why would these be news? Ok, observations that confirm a theory, great. But just observations and nothing else? Get back to me when you have real data.
Buh bye Karma, it was nice knowing you!
Obvious comment (Score:2)
People like attention, so giving them more attention makes them happy. Oh wait, I guess adding "on Facebook" to the premise makes it different.
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The way FB makes me feel better can be summed up with one word: schadenfreude.
Somehow I feel very happy when people with poor vocabulary do not understand that word. Wish I knew how to describe it.
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Damn, I wish I had some mod points!!
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Schadenfreude: joy at the misfortune of others.
FB example: Catching up with the jock who bullied you in HS, him seeing how successful you are and what an abject failure he is.
CHECK and MATE. :P
Flawed methodology (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm surprised (Score:1)
Well, I am. I'm surprised that those who spent the time staring into a mirror didn't have lowered self-esteem. Haven't we recently discussed cameras that make people better-looking because 90% of people don't like the way they look?
Mind you, if you'd put me in this study I'd have had a cat-nap. It's amazing how much better that can make you feel about things.
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Haven't we recently discussed cameras that make people better-looking because 90% of people don't like the way they look?
They don't like the way they look when pictured by bad photographers and/or shitty cameras.
What did they do before self-esteem was invented? (Score:3)
What did they do before self-esteem was invented? Seriously. I've heard "low self esteem" described as a cause for everything from gang violence to sex addiction. AFAIK, self-esteem doesn't crop up very much before the 70s, right? What did they use before that, just good old-fashioned demons I guess.
Has anybody done a study to test if FaceBook increases your chance of being posessed?
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I've heard "low self esteem" described as a cause for everything from gang violence to sex addiction.
You heard wrong! It's video games and pornography now!
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Before self-esteem we had this thing called self-respect. The difference is that you have to earn respect, even if the person you're respecting is you. This was too hard for many people to understand and instead we moved to a system where everyone is expected to feel good about themselves regardless of whether or not they have anything to feel good about. Of course, this lowers self-expectations for those few who embrace it but more importantly it makes people who don't or can't embrace it feel like crap
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You're taking what I said waaaay too literally.
To clarify further.. (Score:2)
The "invention" of self-esteem to which I'm referring is actually The Self Esteem Movement [google.com] which does indeed have its roots in the late 60s, early 70s.
organized thought (Score:2)
Talking about yourself in 3rd person, in a positive, organized way == vanity.
What you can get with facebook, you can get with a mirror. Sort of the 1950's version of facebook.
Alt Conclusion: Boredom causes depression (Score:3)
I think it's more probable that sitting there for 3 minutes and thinking about how you are wasting your life depresses people.
What? (Score:2)
Who pays for this shit? Cornell? Seriously?
Inner monologues... (Score:3)
The first one was the control group, which sat in front of blank computer screens for three minutes.
"I'm such a moron for volunteering for this boring study :-("
The second group of individuals had mirrors propped up against their computer monitors and spent their three minutes looking at their own reflections.
"I am here because I am too ugly to hang out with friends :-("
The third group was allowed to surf their own Facebook profiles and its associated tabs for the allotted time.
"Oh hey, something to distract me from the pain of my own existence :-|"
This Translates as Follows ... (Score:2)
The first one was the control group, which sat in front of blank computer screens for three minutes.
Three minutes — of emptiness.
The second group of individuals had mirrors propped up against their computer monitors and spent their three minutes looking at their own reflections.
Three minutes — of a reflection of emptiness.
The third group was allowed to surf their own Facebook profiles and its associated tabs for the allotted time.
Three minutes — of an inverted ref
Only for certain people (Score:2)
This is only true for people who actually care about such 'petty' things.
Not really a surprise (Score:1)
If You Are A Shut In.... (Score:1)
This study only shows that Facebook Boosts Your Self-Esteem if all you ever do is stare at a mirror or a blank wall.....
How about adding further control groups that:
Etc.
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Woops. Forgot this was Cornell doing the study....
Three minutes of FaceBook will change your Life? (Score:2)
Or far more likely... (Score:2)
...people who are forced to stare at them selves for three minutes have a lower self esteem than those who just reached out the world. Extremely doubtful the summary and/or the researchers are drawing the correct conclusion.
What a surprise...someone who is forced to stare at themselves for three minutes becomes critically aware of their own flaws.
slashdot sucks these days...
What?? Facebook increases self esteem?? (Score:1)
All about the headline (Score:3)
The methodology behind the research makes no sense, but look at the great headline they got out of it.
Fourth Group (Score:2)
Now what happens when they tweet (Score:1)
Newsflash: Doing stuff you like makes you happy (Score:2)
In my case, surfing FB would probably have made me aggressive. Mainly because I don't have a Facebook account and would have been in the white screen group.
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