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The effect of deactivating Facebook and Instagram on users' emotional state

(www.nber.org)
506 points imakwana | 1 comments | 21 Apr 25 04:24 UTC | HN request time: 0.268s | source
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nomilk ◴[21 Apr 25 05:58 UTC] No.43748834[source]▶
The surprise here is how little of an effect it has. Deactivating facebook makes you only 1/16th of one standard deviation happier. And instagram even less. And this was measured during elections, when the effect is likely to be greatest.

Kinda crazy that the magnitude is so small! (my next [admittedly rather cynical] thought is "who funded this?")

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1. blablabla123 ◴[21 Apr 25 06:55 UTC] No.43749080[source]▶
> Kinda crazy that the magnitude is so small! (my next [admittedly rather cynical] thought is "who funded this?")

If a significant part of someone's Social life is run through Facebook, it's surprising that there's even a net positive in the end.