Facebook envy: you’re not alone

interns Contributor
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Let’s be honest. Sometimes when you’re on Facebook, you start feeling like the grass is greener on the other side. Happy statuses start making you feel like you need a better job and a profile on a dating website. Or is that just me?

A recent study released by Stanford University reports that Facebook insecurity proves more common than one wants to admit, Time Magazine reported Thursday. The study shows that Facebook users often perceive other people as having more fulfilling social and emotional lives. As a result, people being feeling more lonely, isolated and depressed.

Researchers surveyed a group of college freshmen and asked them to record their positive and negative feelings. The results found that most people experience the negative feelings while alone because a group setting inspires happiness. People also lied about the frequency of lonely and depressed feelings because they wanted others to perceive that things were going well.

The Facebook envy cycle perpetuates as people feel lonely, update their statuses about how great things are, read other statuses and continue to feel more lonely. Maybe it’s time to unplug for a bit and go outside.