More social media connections can worsen users’ emotional states through comparison loops

Evidence

Unlike television, however, social media entails active self-presentation characterized by “profile inflation,” in which biographical information, photos, and updates are crafted to appear ever more marvelous in anticipation of the stakes for popularity, self-worth, and happiness. Profile inflation triggers more negative self-evaluation among individuals as people compare themselves to others, which then leads to more profile inflation, especially among larger networks that include more “distant friends.” As one study concluded, “Expanding one’s social network by adding a number of distant friends through Facebook may be detrimental by stimulating negative emotions for users.” — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1473

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to research on social comparison theory and the well-documented negative affect findings on passive Facebook use (e.g. Krasnova et al.). — connects to: Heavy Twitter monitoring made relationships feel like strategic performance while fueling anxiety. — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 601; Facebook’s subliminal emotional manipulation acted on hundreds of thousands of users beyond their awareness — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 944; Facebook cannot stop exploiting user emotions while revenue depends on prediction. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 959 (+8 more)
• CANDY: The counterintuitive finding that adding distant friends on Facebook makes users feel worse is a light, tweetable fact.

Broader Connections

• Social media’s engineered feedback loops convert normal social comparison into compulsive anxiety #expands (0.95) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1485
• Unhappy Facebook browsing creates a self-reinforcing cycle that deepens depression #expands (0.90) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1477
• Viewing others’ highlight reels on Facebook measurably degraded users’ mood and sense of meaning #corroborates (0.88) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 1012
• Facebook exposure drives social comparison and envy on an unprecedented scale #corroborates (0.85) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1476