Facebook makes us more informed citizens, because it increases the consumption of current news, but in return encourages more extreme political ideas, according to a study published in the American Economic Review.
The study recruited 2,897 participants with an announcement posted, of course, on Facebook. Half of them had to deactivate their account for a month in exchange for receiving $ 102 (€ 93). The other half was able to continue using the social network normally. During that time, the researchers evaluated the behavior and well-being of both groups through surveys, text messages, and emails.
The results indicate that stopping using Facebook has positive effects such as having more free time, socializing more offline, feeling more well-being and also becoming more politically moderate. In exchange, without Facebook we end up less informed of the daily news.
Although the political radicalization of the study participants decreased, they did not change their opinion about certain political parties and candidates. After this disconnection period, almost all the participants assured that they would not use Facebook as much as before, and 5% confessed that they would not reactivate their account.
To make matters worse, everyone would be willing to participate in the study again for less money. Despite having experienced this change in their habits, most of the participants thought that their family and friends would not be able to spend so much time without Facebook.
Almost all of the participants assured that they would not use Facebook as much as before, and 5% confessed that they would not reactivate their account.
Not everything is negative. Through questioning it became clear that Facebook is a source of entertainment and facilitates participation in activist groups and charities. It also helps the most introverted people to improve their social life, and keeps us informed of current events.
Other conclusions of the study were that social networks can cause addiction and depression problems in users. But also, they reveal that Facebook is, without a doubt, an important platform to increase the knowledge of the population and to keep us informed.
The study warns of the risk, in addition to political polarization, of the increase in depression and addiction to the social network, and what is called projection bias, that is, to think that everyone shares your ideas (and who does not, it is wrong).
The researchers thought that the participants would return to using Facebook with the same regularity after the experiment, and were surprised to see that this was not the case. Despite the negative aspects of using this social network, they stated that we should not neglect the advantages it brings us.
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