[anderskev]

This narrative seems to keep popping up. Depression is not Facebook's problem any more than it is Budweiser's problem, or Ben & Jerry's problem. People who suffer from depression have unhealthy relationships with a myriad of things because it distorts your worldview.

IMO, this is more a case of social media bringing deeper problems to the surface than social media being the actual cause.

[robotkilla]

> more a case of social media bringing deeper problems to the surface than social media being the actual cause

I think its a combination of both. You draw a parallel between social networks and budweiser. Alcohol worsens depression and I believe social networks do as well. Whether or not they CAUSE depression is a totally different matter of course.

> depression... distorts your worldview

I think this should be up for debate as well. Even though I've echoed this sentiment myself, as someone with depression I'm starting to suspect that my own is brought on due to a very accurate understanding of the world. I've been painfully aware of my own and my family's place in the world (lower-middle-class) since I was a kid. My own and my family's mortality is another thing that makes me extremely depressed if I allow myself to think too deeply about it. Wars, world injustices, the ultimate meaninglessness of life... I've been thinking about all of this since I was around 5 years old. That's not a distorted worldview, its reality.

I think a lot of my own depression stems from the inability to block out all of the negative things in my life. Once I started meditating, stopped following the news so closely, got rid of my repressive religion, stopped letting lack of funds ruin my day (partially by blocking out all advertising), deleted my social networks and got into an excellent sleep routine I've been able to manage my depression and I feel a lot better.

[pfortuny]

I think rather than being a "very accurate understanding of the world", it might be characterized as a "very acute understanding of the world without pleasurable inputs." At least that is the way I perceive my own feelings (I am a fellow sufferer).

Sleep and "news deprivation" have both been very helpful to me as well, as has meditation.

[J-dawg]

Thank you for this comment.

> very acute understanding of the world without pleasurable inputs.

This sums it up perfectly. It's also what makes depression so dangerous. When you're at your lowest point you don't feel like you have a distorted worldview at all. You feel like you're seeing the world perfectly clearly. Of course, you're actually not. You're blocking out all the wonderful stuff that actually makes life worth living.

Blocking out news and advertising wherever possible has helped me too. And yes, this included quitting Facebook.

[elevenfist]

In the event that this helps anyone:

I've since realized that a lot of my unhappiness was created when I started reading all this news about how much money people like Zuckerberg were making while fucking up the world. It's great and amazing that we have access to this information, but expecting my own life and experiences to be different, or expecting myself to be wealthier or more powerful than I am just causes unhappiness when I'm not. I can't ignore these problems, but I had to accept where I am and stop beating myself up over it. Part of that comes from realizing I can remain calm, and work towards a better future, fixing problems as I know how to solve them.

[RUG3Y]

I'm a lot like you. Thanks for your response.

[robotkilla]

I don't know if you meditate but I can't overemphasis how much mindful meditation helped me when I was spiraling, especially during panic attacks and especially at night.

I downloaded a video of a monk teaching it a while back (have since lost the vid so I can't say which one it was) -- i don't agree or believe in any of spiritual teachings associated with meditation but the physical / mental benefits were impossible for me to deny, even if it was a placebo effect.

I think it probably has to do with focusing your thoughts rather than letting them run wild -- i can't help but think of brains like a computer, and mine tends to get stuck in a recursive loop of negativity, but mindful meditation would almost always break me out of that loop.

Interestingly when I was religious I would pray during those same panic attacks (and always at night) and it would also calm me down. My former religion would have us pray as though we were actually carrying on a one sided conversation with god... being that I'm an atheist I think of prayer as a form of meditation now so i think the effects are very similar.

[Spooky23]

I think it's more like a casino than Ben & Jerry's.

The whole point of the Facebook platform is to manipulate you -- it's a advertising engine. We don't have a lot of experience as humans with mass delivery of tightly targeted marketing designed to press your specific buttons.

I don't know that it's a bad thing, but I'm not willing to say that that type of intense marketing is ok for a person in a vulnerable mental state. If you're vulnerable to getting depressed, is Facebook exposure akin to putting a gambling addict in a casino or an alcoholic in a gathering with an open bar?

[Jtsummers]

I think the author would agree with you. She doesn't call Facebook the cause of her depression, she just found connections between it (well, social media) and her depression, and that removing herself from them alleviated her symptoms. In speaking to her therapist and other professionals, and other sufferers of depression, she continued to find this common theme: Social media made their conditions worse, or at least made recovery more difficult.

This isn't Facebook's problem, as someone else pointed out: 75% of Facebook users are almost certainly not suffering from depression. But it is a problem, and she wrote about her condition (as someone who's written about his own issues with depression, this is not easy to do) to present it to others, for them to maybe see a way to get a little better or perhaps to be more aware of what the condition is like for those that have it.

[carsongross]

IMO, this is more a case of social media bringing deeper problems to the surface than social media being the actual cause.

Absolutely not. Facebook is engineered to be addictive, and happiness is based to a very large extent on perceived relative position in a social hierarchy.

Facebook is more like a horribly insidious version of advertising than food or alcohol.

[colmvp]

Indeed. I think we're not giving enough credit for how Facebook is designed.

People largely only post things that are happy, such as birth of a newborn baby, smiling kids, winning awards, having fun on vacation, while cropping out the sad or dull moments.

Those posts garner a lot of likes. And then those rise up in importance on feeds.

It's not uncommon to feel a bit envious of seeing these. So then we eventually we post something of comparable significance. Perhaps a new house. Or an achievement of our own like releasing a first version of something. Or a vacation we've scheduled.

It's creates a weird cycle detached from reality. I'm not depressed but I can't honestly say the experience doesn't affect me.

[drzaiusapelord]

>Those posts garner a lot of likes.

Except they don't. I see political garbage like outrage pieces from some liberal rag or some conservative website garnering all the votes. Everyone gets outraged, argumentative, etc. Facebook is like an eternal thanksgiving dinner with your overly political uncle.

The baby photos, vacation photos, etc are the ignored content here.

[andrewflnr]

There's that, too, but the happy fluff is definitely there in some circles, if not yours.

[spyspy]

Every monetized product is designed to be addictive.

[carsongross]

The Silicon Valley RDF has severely warped your brain.

[drzaiusapelord]

>Depression is not Facebook's problem any more than it is Budweiser's problem, or Ben & Jerry's problem.

Dunno about that. I can avoid beer and ice cream or buy them at my own pace but due to familial, work, and social obligation I pretty much MUST use FB. My feed is a lot of hot cause celebres like the debunked Clock Kid or outrage political articles with questionable facts. Its overwhemling and I can see it driving people into sour moods if not aggravating depression. Its an endless chorus of extreme negativity. Hell, I think how much poorly sourced and biased political junk you post on fb is a character judgment and its sad to see how many of my acquaintance fail this basic test. I just want to log in to see whats going on professionally or see people's baby or vacation photos.

Worse, FB is gamified to produce these results. People crave likes and just cater to their audience, hence the political crap and other negativity. There's a lot of work in this field and the FB guys know how to exploit people's desire for attention and validation.

>IMO, this is more a case of social media bringing deeper problems to the surface than social media being the actual cause.

As technologists, I think this kind of attitude is especially dangerous. Our products cause harm. Lets stop pretending they don't.

[mkrfox]

I solved this problem by unfollowing everyone and everything on Facebook. Now I mostly just post pictures of foxes. Foxes are a bipartisan issue.

[ambago]

I mostly agree, except; depression might be Facebook's problem if it is exacerbated by one of their "experiments."

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/02/facebook-s...

[nissehulth]

Which is what the article says. Among other things.

[cujo]

But not what the title says, which is OP's point.

[Raphmedia]

But articles are meant to be fully read, not only the title.

[cujo]

Yes, but the title is still a lie.

[Jtsummers]

How is it a lie? Was the intent of the title to deceive you?