Facebook admits it has a problem, but suggests it may be your fault

Facebook published a post on Friday admitting that it may be bad for you.

It drew on a study which found that blindly scrolling through your news feed and hitting the 'like' button without really interacting with others (otherwise known as passively consuming), can make people feel worse afterwards.

But the network said that we can solve this problem and our happiness by going all in.

We should comment on things more, share posts to close friends, send more messages and click on more reaction buttons - like those hearts and smiley faces that come up when you hover over the 'like' button.

They also cheerily note that a study they carried out with Carnegie Mellon University found that those who send or receive more messages, comments report improvements on their mental health.

The world's most popular social media network has now decided to work on making things more about social interaction. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook said:

We want the time people spend on Facebook to encourage meaningful social interactions.

So some changes to the news feed have been brought in

Facebook will show more posts from friends they think you care about and will demote things like clickbait headlines.

It has also launched a 'snooze' function, which gives users the option to mute a person, page or group for 30 days, so no more feeling awkward after blocking or unfriending someone.

The announcement comes less than a week after a former Facebook executive spoke out over his 'guilt' about social media.

Chamath Palihapitiya, who was responsible for getting more people on Facebook before he left in 2011, said he's ashamed to have worked on "tools that are ripping apart the social fabric of how society works.”

He also admitted that he doesn't use social media and has banned his kids from it too.

Chamath Palihapitiya a former Facebook executive said the social media network is destroying our society (Picture: Getty)

He added that people who use Facebook are being "programmed."

Facebook however contested the comments saying that the former boss had not worked at the company for more than six years.

They said the company was "very different back then" and have realised their responsibilities and are "working hard to impove."

But an extensive study into the relation between feeling happy and using Facebook found that over time, using the platform has a negative effect on users.

The two year study by the University of California monitored the Facebook activity of 5,208 subjects.

It confirmed that interactions can have a negative effect on well-being.

The study also suggested that the danger of long term social media use is when users believe they are engaging in human interaction, when they are in fact not receiving the benefits of face to face interaction.

HT QZ

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