Likes and Tears

Facebook’s story is always the same: it brings people together, keeps you connected to people everywhere, lets you see each other’s lives. The more you use it the better. That’s what they tell you.

Except researchers at UC tracked 5,000 people over three years and found the opposite. For every one percent increase in interactions—likes, link clicks, status updates—wellbeing dropped by five to eight percent. More scrolling, more sadness. Nothing surprising about it.

If you were already tired of it anyway, the fake vacation photos, the rage pages that never disappear, the way they steal your data and call it engagement—well now there’s actual research confirming what your gut already knew. That’s worth something.

I quit using Facebook years ago, or quit in the way you do: opened the app less, forgot about it, eventually realized months had passed. No withdrawal. No FOMO. Just silence. And it was fine.