Being real on social media could actually benefit your well-being, study finds
Studies from New York Columbia Business School and Northwestern University have proved that being authentic on social media could actually benefit your mental health – no filters, no BS.
Regardless of different personality trails, researchers found that ‘being prompted to post authentically was associated with more positive mood and affect, and less negative mood within participants.’
The study was divided into two parts: The first was by having 10,560 FB users fill out separate life satisfaction and personality assessment tests.
The researchers then compared the personality results with the participants’ Facebook content to find out if their profiles really mirrored their personalities. They then learned that those who expressed themselves more authentically online reported higher levels of life satisfaction.
For the second part, the study gathered 90 students to post different types of online content in the span of two weeks: the first week being in an authentic way, then the second in their ‘self-idealized’ way.
After the experiment, the students reported better well-being in the week when they were asked to post about their life more honestly.
While the study didn’t explain why people lie on social media, they furthered that having these unattainable ‘idealized‘ versions of ourselves could be harder to execute IRL – thus making for psychological self-conflict.
‘One tension that users face is whether to present themselves in a way that’s idealized or in a way that’s authentic. Here we found that authentic social media use is associated with higher subjective well-being.’
Let’s keep it real, peeps
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Source: we the pvblic
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