Why having a wide range of Facebook 'friends' can make you more stressed
By Daily Mail Reporter
Having a large number of Facebook 'friends' may boost a person's ego, but it can also make them more stressed, research suggests.
This is because 'friending' people who aren't that close, such as professional acquaintances, leads to increased worry about posting inappropriate comments and pictures.
A study by Scots academics found that the wider and more diverse a person's 'friends' on the social networking site are, the more stress the site will create.
The research, led by Ben Marder, from Edinburgh University’s business school, found the more friend groups a person has, there is a greater potential to cause offence. Screen stress: Having employers or parents as Facebook contacts resulted in the greatest increase in anxiety
In particular, adding employers or parents resulted in the greatest increase in anxiety.
People presenting a version of themselves that is unacceptable to some of their online ‘friends’, such as posts displaying behaviour such as swearing, recklessness, drinking and smoking, is the largest cause of anxiety.
The added stress becomes more of a problem with older people joining the a site, as their expectations may be very different from those of younger users.
Some 55 per cent of parents follow their children on Facebook.
More than half of employers claimed they have not hired someone based on their Facebook page.
The study also found more people have exes as ‘friends’ than people who are friends with their current partner.
Only 56 per cent of users were friends with their boyfriend, girlfriend or spouse online, compared with 64 per cent of exes.
Although the research found that while most people have an ex as a Facebokk friend, not all people on Facebook have a partner. Facebook users worry about posting something that might anger their boss
Researchers found that on average people are Facebook friends with seven different social circles.
The most common group was friends known offline, 97 per cent added them as friends online, followed by extended family, 81 per cent, siblings, 80 per cent, friends of friends, 69 per cent, and colleagues, 65 per cent.
The report surveyed more than 300 people on Facebook, mostly students, with an average age of 21.
It also discovered that only one third use the listing privacy setting on their Facebook profile, which can be used to control the information seen by different types of friends.
Mr Marder, author of the report and early career fellow in marketing at the Business School, said: 'Facebook used to be like a great party for all your friends where you can dance, drink and flirt.
'But now with your Mum, Dad and boss there the party becomes an anxious event full of potential social landmines.
'If you have partners, parents, family and employers the more stressful it is as they all have different expectations.
'People will try and manage themselves and regulate how they appear on the site, so they will try and avoid saying things they think, as they are worried how it will appear.
'I have seen how people will delete photo’s of themself, and even regulate their offline behaviour for their online presence.
'If people are at parties and they see a camera they then think my boss, or my girlfriend might see this.
'So they might be smoking or drinking and when a camera comes around they will change their actions so people don’t see it on Facebook.
'People will try and present a duller version of themself to please every audience as they are so concerned what other will think.
'You even hear people on nights out saying to each other "don’t put that on Facebook".'
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