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Facebook...The Good or the Bad...Your Say!

blondguy
Champion Alumni
Champion Alumni

Hi Everybody

Without a doubt Facebook is one of the best social media sites. I have been on FB for a long time and found it invaluable yet very stressful at times whilst having anxiety and/or depression or even just checking it every day.

Your views on FB, its impact on your mental health, well being, whether good or not so good are more than welcome.

Thankyou for reading my thread topic!

my kind thoughts

Paul

332 Replies 332

Lici
Community Member

Hey Chloe,

I think with social media it really depends on the MI and the person as to if it's a good thing or not.

For example, people can compare themselves to others on social media and feel bad about themselves forgetting that social media is a highlight reel and people don't put up their problems.

I think that as long as you know where the block button is, remember that you are in control and not to compare yourself to people then it should be ok.

Cyber bullying is hard, are your parents going to keep an eye on things? I think that as long as they are or as long as you are willing to tell them about what happens online then it shouldn't be too bad. Please keep your parents in the loop though. I've seen and read about kids who have been really badly affected by cyber bullying.

I hope social media is a positive experience for you!

Lici

quirkywords
Community Champion
Community Champion

Hello all wave to Paul,

Chloe, I feel you are in control of social media but don’t let social media control you.

I know many see the evils of social media but I feel it is a tool and when used well can be beneficial.

Maybe as an oldie I don’t get involved in bullying etc but I keep in touch with family and friends on FB.

Enjoy, stay in control and look after your health.

Quirky

Hello Chloe_M

Thankyou so much for taking the time to be a part of the Facebook thread topic 🙂

Its just my humble opinion yet with a diagnosed anxiety condition FB can induce further symptoms as when we click on FB we are in a state of anticipation about 'whats there'

Anxiety is partially anticipatory the begin with....(anticipation of another anxiety attack etc) Even with all the privacy controls enabled its an unmoderated site that can be a trigger for some people (depending on their levels of anxiety/depression)

Chloe_M mentioned "it makes my anxiety worse and increases the already large fear of being judged"

My thoughts exactly and thankyou for the great post

My Best

Paul

blondguy
Champion Alumni
Champion Alumni

Hi everyone...New members are more than welcome to post too!

Hey Lici and Quirky 🙂 Thankyou heaps for your help on this thread topic. Its great that you both find benefit in FB like I used to. Just a question If I can to help me and others on the forums....

Do you think that 'some' people on Facebook place too much attention on how many 'friends' they have?

Have a good night 🙂

Paul

smallwolf
Community Champion
Community Champion

There are pros and cons with FB. I subscribe to a few groups that have articles on anxiety and depression that I find useful. Also follow beyond blue on FB. So there are some things that popup which I find useful. And I can use it to pass a message onto someone else.

One friend posts about his latest medical issues but otherwise you it is a case of "look at me"type posts which can be unhelpful of you are "depressed". These are mostly (1) this is where I am going for holidays (2) this is me at ... (3) this is what I just did

But I don't really use FB that much.

And yes, some people do place too much attention on how many friends they have. When I was OS someone saw my FB page and the number of friends I had and laughed. Because I did not have 000's like they did. But I would raise the question... would you rather have friends who I actually know rather than a bunch of unknowns.

Hi Smallwolf

Great to have your input here....and thankyou!

I have a relative that has a couple of thousand 'friends' but is so very lonely and isolated and checks her FB many times a day for the attention she is seeking......Its sad really

Nice1 SW

My kind thoughts

Paul

Lici
Community Member

Hi Paul (and all 😊),

I definitely think some people place too much emphasis on "collecting" fb friends. It's like they think it's Pokemon and they have to collect them all!

Personally I'm a 'only people I know' person. I only have friends, family and acquaintances that I know in real life or from elsewhere online that I have spoken to for years etc. I don't see the point of adding every random person on there, for me it's about keeping in touch with people I already know, following their milestones etc.

In terms of other stuff on fb, I follow pages to do with photography and join groups for armature photographers, plus groups for uni etc as well so I get a lot out of Facebook in that way too.

Lici

smallwolf
Community Champion
Community Champion

On friends... it is not necessarily bad to "collect friend". Note that I have put that quotes so speaking very broadly. For example, kids in a team sport will friend each other. They know how to friend each other but it is not really intuitive to unfriend someone or takes more time that adding a friend. If a "friend" posts something you disagree with you can easily move on to the next post. But if that statement were made verbally you might reconsider the friendship? Don't quote me on this, but FB needs friends, if only from an advertising and marketing perspective. Otherwise their reach is not as a large as desired.

But the same group of friends who played that team sport, some of these might actually develop into friendships, even if not intended. So that could be seen as a plus.

Last comment... think there are also different levels of friendship compared to when I was MUCH younger. I could count the number of the families on my hand my parents would invite over for dinner. There were other who you would see periodically and call them friends. There are others you know who you would not give the time of day to. And somewhere in the middle are acquaintances. Some people who refer to me as a friend, I might see at some level as an acquaintances. It is a bit like the honesty question (/thread). At the same time, these are people who (appear to) genuinely care about what happens to me, and ask me or check on me as to how I am going.

If only to make my life "easier" I would broadcast on FB about having depression etc. But I would also be afraid for the feedback I might receive (from non-believers in MI) and those same (my) statements might come back to haunt me years later either - whether by banks, insurers, employers, "friends" or whoever gets access to those posts.

As much as I say, only post what you would actually tell someone, even then I am somewhat hesitant.

Tim

blondguy
Champion Alumni
Champion Alumni

Hi Everyone 🙂

Hey Lici....Thankyou for your post. If I was to ever re-join FB I would be using the same parameter as you with the 'only people I know' setting. Using FB they way you do sounds like the way to go

Hey SW and thankyou for your thoughts on FB. You made an excellent point about our mental health being on record where people may view it as a negative. Many employers use FB as a tool to check on job applicants

It would be a good feeling having the support from people that do care (the believers)

Very interesting why not one of FB directors/CEO's have an account.....

kind thoughts

Paul

Hello all,

Paul to answer your question I am not sure if people put too much emphasis on collecting friends. I do think people get obsessed with getting lots of likes and they get upset if others get more likes.

Note, people who get married or have cute babies or some life changing event tend to get heaps of likes. Of course the more friends you have the more likes you will get. So maybe that’s why people get lots of friends so they get more likes.

I know people who have stopped FB but for me I have it under control.

Quirky