Facebook leaves users 'anxious and stressed' as they agonise over online friends

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Updated:

The more ‘friends’ you have on Facebook, the more likely you are to feel stressed, a study has found.

Psychologists believe that those who are most addicted to the website can develop ‘Facebook-related anxiety’.

And they said that for a significant number, the negative effects of using the site – which has more than 500million members – outweighed the benefits of staying in touch with friends and family.

Popular: The more friends you have on Facebook, the more likely you are to feel stressed, a study has found

Popular: The more friends you have on Facebook, the more likely you are to feel stressed, a study has found

Researchers from Edinburgh Napier University questioned students on their use of the site.

Many said turning down friend requests left them feeling guilty, while more than one in ten found just being on the site a ‘nervous’ experience.

Others could not handle the pressure to be ‘entertaining’, while others became ‘envious’ of users who had more friends or seemed to be having more fun than them.

Dr Kathy Charles, who led the study, said: ‘We found it was actually those with the most contacts, those who had invested the most time in the site, who were the ones most likely to be stressed.’

Dr Charles added that many users could give no real reason why they used the site.

But she said: ‘Many also told us they were anxious about withdrawing from the site for fear of missing important social information or offending contacts.’

Facebook refused to comment.

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