The more Facebook friends you have the more stressed you will be says Napier study
The more Facebook friends you have the more stressed you are likely to feel according to new research by Edinburgh's Napier University.
The University surveyed 200 students on how they used Facebook and concluded that for some users the downsides of the site outweighed the benefits of staying in touch with friends and family.
There was also an online component to the study, which attracted 175 respondents, that found:
*12% of the sample said that Facebook made them feel anxious. These respondents had an average of 117 friend each. *The remaining 88% of the sample, who had an average of 75 friends , said Facebook did not make them feel anxious.
*63% delayed responding to friend requests
*32% said rejecting friend requests made them feel guilty
*10% said they disliked receiving friends requests
“The results threw up a number of paradoxes,” said Dr Kathy Charles who led the study, “For instance, although there is great pressure to be on Facebook there is also considerable ambivalence amongst its users about its benefits.
“Our data suggests that there is a significant minority of users who experience considerable Facebook-related anxiety, with only very modest or tenuous rewards.
“An overwhelming majority of respondents reported that the best thing about Facebook was 'keeping in touch', often without further explanation.”
Charles said that many were anxious about withdrawing from the site for fear of missing important information or upsetting contacts.