How can I use Facebook and Twitter without reducing my happiness?

Social networking services (SNS) such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are now indispensable tools for many people to lead a social life. A paper published by psychologists at the University of British Columbia has revealed how to get along well with such SNS.

How and Why Social Media Affect Subjective Well-Being: Multi-Site Use and Social Comparison as Predictors of Change Across Time | SpringerLink
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10902-020-00291-z

UBCO study says it's not if, but how people use social media that impacts their well-being
https://news.ok.ubc.ca/2020/11/02/ubco-study-says-its-not-if-but-how-people-use-social-media-that-impacts-their-well- being / being /

Is Social Media Making Your Patients Unhappy? | Psychiatric Times
https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/is-social-media-making-your-patients-unhappy

Past studies have shown thatoverdoing SNS increases the risk of mental health by up to 78% , while using smartphones and SNS does not worsen the mental health of teens. There are various debates about the impact of SNS on mental health, such as reports of research results.

Research results that teenage mental health does not deteriorate even if you use smartphones and SNS all the time --GIGAZINE

Therefore, the research team of Derrick Wurts and others who are studying psychology at the University of British Columbia in Canada is using the three SNSs of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for university students and how to use them. We investigated how morphology affects happiness.

The research team first divided the usage of Facebook into four categories: 'checking news feeds,' 'exchange messages,' 'view world news,' and 'upload posts and images,' and investigated the frequency of use of each. As a result, the most common use of Facebook was to 'passively check news sites.' In addition, the report on happiness obtained from the participants also said that 'checking the news feed has the strongest adverse effect on happiness.'

'When you look at photos and posts in your news feed that highlight the positive aspects of others, such as friends and relatives, you can't see how negative they are actually experiencing,' Wurts said. As a result, I think I can conclude that my life, which is a mixture of positive and negative events, is not as good as others, 'he said. 'Comparison' said that it reduced the feeling of well-being.

The research team conducted a similar survey not only on Facebook but also on Twitter and Instagram, but on all three SNSs, 'How to use other people's posts and photos indiscriminately compares yourself with others. It leads to doing, and eventually the happiness decreases. ' On the other hand, when the research team investigated the effects of face-to-face and telephone exchanges, it was also found that 'face-to-face and telephone exchanges increase happiness as opposed to SNS exchanges.'

Based on these results, the research team has summarized the following four methods for utilizing SNS while minimizing the adverse effects on the mental side.

・ Avoid using it to scroll the news feed indiscriminately.
・ Do not compare yourself with others.
・ Meet friends and family offline, and use tools and telephones to talk online in sync to interact as directly as possible.
・ Reduce the amount of SNS used in daily life as much as possible.

'If we take care of the above points and use social media, not only can we reduce the negative impact, but we can also improve our sense of well-being. There is not 'whether SNS is good or bad', but 'how to use SNS is the key to determine the impact on happiness'. '