What really happens when you quit Facebook? Study tells

Social media has become such an inseparable part of our lives that going off it seems literally impossible. The height of addiction is such that the first thing we wake up to is Facebook and the last thing we sleep to is also Facebook. But have you ever thought how will life be if you quit Facebook? We tell you.

A new study claims that quitting Facebook really could improve your life. And yes, you read that right.

Researchers from the New York and Stanford University examined around 2,844 Facebook users.

They found that the participants who quit Facebook for a month as part of the study were seen spending more time with family and friends and had a better mood along with an extra hour a day.

Isn’t that more than enough? We are sure none of you ever imagined that quitting social media has can help you in so many ways and give you all what you have been longing for.

Also, the people who gave up Facebook were less interested in politics and were less able to answer questions about news and events correctly.

People involved in the study also filled an extensive questionnaire, which asked them questions about their daily routines, general state of mind and political views.

These people who quit Facebook for a month also used the site far less when they went back to it once the experiment was over. Quitting Facebook does not just give you the much required mental peace but also helps you in many other ways- you save your time, stop comparing yourself with others, stop feeling alienated by the opinions of others and save yourself from dealing with useless information.

People addicted to social media exhibit the same risky decision making behaviour as people addicted to drugs do, says the same study.

In a gambling experiment, the worst performers were the ones who were hooked on to social media sites such as Facebook. These people displayed signs of impaired decision making like those with substance addiction. The lead researcher of the study said, "Around one-third of humans on the planet are using social media and some of these people display maladaptive, excessive use of these sites".

Health professionals should take social media overuse seriously and should throw a light on the negative impact it has on mental health. This is important because the incidences of suicides appear to have risen sharply over the same period as the use of phones and social media expanded. This calls for more stringent regulation of all social media websites, says another study published in the Journal of Behavior Addiction.