"Youths who spend a lot of time on social media sites are at risk of "Facebook depression", a group of doctors say... Though the symptoms and the resulting harmful behaviour may be similar to "offline depression", the American Academy of Pediatrics has proposed Facebook depression as a new phenomenon."
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/th..."CHICAGO—Add "Facebook depression" to potential harms linked with social media, an influential doctors' group warns, referring to a condition it says may affect troubled teens who obsess over the online site."
http://www.boston.com/news/education/hig...Facebook "the new mall" where teens go to hang out... but instead of facing the onslaught of enemy glares... one faces the cyber-sized REJECTION that only a social network can deliver... up-close and way to personal!
From Facebook obsession to Facebook depression... it would seem the whole social competition has just been scaled up a notch, with the show-off of media awareness to posting those rare gems of weirdness... you're off-the-hook if you're not on Facebook. But all the negatives are also increasing to the extent that it has captured many physicians attention... and there is reason for concern...
and they have coined it Facebook Depression.
Cyberbullying, social anxiety, acute isolation, and now... Facebook depression, as IF there wasn't enough out there in the "real world" to be depressed about. What is this insatiable desire to be "connected" to as many "friends" as possible... when just a few friends will do? The inability to fill our lives with others, leaves us only wanting more. I think the heart of the depression goes to something I focused on in an earlier rant
Lawsuit Challenges Assisted-Suicide Laws where constant comparison and envy of others lives cause deep depression, and suicidal thoughts. With the constant barrage of "glossies" and toys sported by contemporaries... it leaves some ever wishing and never fulfilled.
Words seem to come so easy to some.... I was on my "Failbook" when I witnessed the unbridled hatred one of my "friends" was showing to another, we are talking vulgar, personal, and vicious! Who can defend that kind of public humiliation and airing of personal "laundry"? It was bad enough that over the phone, one would receive a good tongue lashing... but this is the new wave of gang-slaying that may be almost impossible to recover from. Where are the Facebook police when you need them?
REALITY is hard enough to come-by and we all need more than just a "taste" of it... the social network is not the place we will be finding it anytime soon, however it is not going away, rather it is creating a new "reality" that we are all being forced to reckon with. Wasn't it just yesterday that we could go fishing or take a hike? But too many visits to the fast food guru's and we rather regress into the cave of Myspace or another fix of isolation... IF only it was really a "Happy Meal" ...what's next, online Facebook therapists?