Most Facebook posts are inspired from Envy

The new study, led by Professor Izak Benbasat from the Sauder School of Business, found out that such posts can make a person feel unfulfilled in life as a comparison is made. It can be a depressing task. However, researchers now claim that envy is the missing link which leads to such behaviour online.

While you may think your friend’s post about sailing the south seas, or hitting the slopes for the first day of skiing are meant to remind you that you’re working while everyone else is playing, that’s not the case. According to the study, seeing a friend’s travel photos is the most common culprit.

For the study – published this week in the peer-reviewed journal Information Systems Research – the researchers surveyed 1,193 Facebook users at a German university about their social media use and feelings of well-being.

“Facebook didn’t invent envy – it’s one of the seven deadly sins, so it’s been around for millennia – but social media is magnifying its effects by allowing people to post pictures and video that show them in a good light”, he said.

Project manager Dr. Hanna Krasnova, who is now a postdoctoral researcher at the Humboldt-Universität, explained that, “Although respondents were reluctant to admit feeling envious while on Facebook, they often presumed that envy can be the cause behind the frustration of “others” on this platform – a clear indication that envy is a salient phenomenon in the Facebook context”. About 20 percent of the respondents said that they felt envious.

Izak Benbasat joined Simi Sara to discuss the study. It further claims that envy deteriorates the mental well-being of users.

Reports on the psychological impact of social media have gained prominence over the years as more and more people are using websites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Benbasat said the functionality of social networks encourages envy-inducing behaviour, and that’s unlikely to change. They wanted to make everyone more aware of the potentially damaging negative emotions they can feel when they use Facebook. “Maybe our persona on Facebook is not our real persona”, said Professor Benbasat, who is a Distinguished Professor of Information Systems.