Stalking old flames on Facebook can lead to depression, study finds

Reading Facebook posts about your friends’ beautiful babies, delicious meals and invigorating jobs can seriously damage your mental health. A University of Missouri study found that ‘stalking’ old friends or exes and reading updates about other people’s enviable lifestyles can lead to depression. The researchers said depression tended to hit users who stalked friends to see how they were doing, and felt envy as they read other people’s posts.

We found that if Facebook users experience envy of the activities and lifestyles of their friends on Facebook, they are much more likely to report feelings of depression.

Professor Margaret Duffy, co-author of the study

Specifically, people who use the site for ‘surveillance’ - seeing how exes, or old friends are doing in life, tended to exhibit symptoms of depression. The study analysed the responses of 700 young Facebook users to a questionnaire about how they used the network and how it made them feel. The reports authors said the site was only damaging when used “as a way to size up one’s own accomplishments against others”.

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