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Written By: Editorial Team | Published : October 14, 2014 6:48 PM IST
The feeling of loneliness is bringing more people in search of friends to Facebook, in stark contrast to the view that the social networking site makes people feel isolated, revealed a research. According to researchers, Facebook does not cause loneliness and people use the social network in an effort to feel more connected.
'Compared to non-lonely people, lonely people spend more time on Facebook. Lonely individuals who are shy or have low social support may turn to Facebook to compensate for their lack of social skills and/or social networks in face-to-face settings,' explained Hayeon Song, assistant professor of communication at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee in the US. (Read: How loneliness can affect your health)
To reach the conclusion, the team analysed a collection of studies to find that a connection between Facebook and loneliness exists. They found that the lonelier someone is, the longer he or she spends time on Facebook. 'The interesting point of this study is that it both supports and corrects the original internet study, which is one of the most influential studies in internet research and was produced by researchers at the Carnegie Mellon University,' stressed Song.
'To the question of whether or not the internet increases psychological dysfunctions such as loneliness, the internet study suggested that internet use has detrimental effects. Our study supports this in that internet use is associated with loneliness,' Song maintained. 'However, we found the previously suggested causal direction to be erroneous: lonely people spend more time on the internet rather than internet use making people lonely,' the reaearchers concluded. (Read: Facebook can make you psychotic and delusional!)
The paper appeared in the journal Computers in Human Behaviour.
Here are tips to deal with loneliness
1. Pretend like the day doesn t exist
These days, there s a day for everything and it is unlikely that you feel any different on World Alzheimer s Day. Why then should you give any mental space to Valentine s Day? If it isn t for you, then you shouldn t care about it.
2. Gift yourself something
You are the only person you can t get rid of. Going by that logic, there s no one you should love more than yourself. So, use all your savings to buy something you really wanted. Give yourself some leeway and buy a watch that you find expensive, a chair that will make you feel comfortable for a long time or even a pair of dumbbells that ll help you get in better shape. Whatever it is, make sure that your own gift overpowers the impact that media has on Valentine s Day. If you think the day isn t important enough for you to spend anything at all, then you can try gifting yourself these cards. Read more about 9 tips to deal with loneliness
With inputs IANS
Photo source: Getty images
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