Quitting Facebook lowers stress in just five days, new Australian research shows
LOGGING off and taking a “Facebook holiday” could make you feel less stressed in just five days, according to groundbreaking new Australian research.
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QUITTING Facebook might be good for more than just keeping your personal details safe.
A new Australian study shows ditching the world’s biggest social network can be good for your health, and can lower stress levels within just five days of logging out.
The University of Queensland research, published in the US Journal of Social Psychology, comes during a difficult time for the social network, following revelations it shared the private details of more than 300,000 Australians and 87 million users worldwide with a data analysis company.
The findings also come just one week after a YouGov Galaxy survey showed 80 per cent of Australians were concerned their data was being harvested from Facebook, and 62 per cent said they did not trust the network.
The University of Queensland research team, led by Dr Eric Vanman, recruited 138 participants to the study, split them into two groups, one of which abstained from Facebook activity for five days, and tested their levels of the stress hormone, cortisol, before and after.
Dr Vanman said the results showed it didn’t take long away from social media to see stress levels fall.
“Taking a Facebook break for just five days reduced a person’s level of the stress hormone cortisol,” he said.
“Facebook has become an essential social tool for millions of users and it obviously provides many benefits, yet because it conveys so much social information about a large network of people, it can also be taxing.”
Dr Vanman said he undertook the research after taking several “Facebook vacations” to manage his own anxiety about the social network, and discovered others had also taken Facebook breaks after finding it “too stressful or overwhelming”.
Taking a break from any social media, he said, could help “ameliorate (the stress of using them), at least in the short-term”.
Social media expert Megan Del Borrello, from Gloss Marketing, said the idea of taking a “Facebook vacation” could be an easy solution for users outraged by the current Cambridge Analytical data breach scandal but torn about whether to delete their account entirely.
“Now is a good time to have a bit of a break from Facebook and go on a digital detox,” she said.
“Personally, I have backed away from Facebook for personal use over this issue.”
But Dr Vanman warned Facebook users not to worry if they found life without the social network different — the research also showed participants’ were unaware their levels of stress hormone had actually dropped and their “feelings of wellbeing” dipped as they felt “cut-off from their Facebook friends”.
Originally published as Quitting Facebook lowers stress in just five days, new Australian research shows
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