Uninvited guests at your Facebook party are causing stress

A large number of Facebook friends might seem impressive, but according to a new report, the more social circles a person is linked to online, the more likely that social media will cause stress.

The more groups you have, more likely you are to be stressed

The more groups of people in someone’s Facebook friends, the greater potential to cause offense. The inclusion of employees, supervisors and parents in particular will cause the greatest anxiety. The source of the stress comes from the presentation of self not being flattering to parties who view the Facebook page. Your boss may not like that photo of you partying in a bikini – or maybe he likes it too much. Or that photo of you at the football game when you told your parents you couldn’t make it to their anniversary dinner because you were working late. Over 50% of parents follow their children on Facebook. More than half of employers say that they have not hired someone based on their Facebook presentation.

Different people have different expectations

There are also generational differences between what older people may think is private compared to what younger people consider private. This can cause misunderstanding and silent (or not so silent) judgments to be passed.

How to control uninvited guests? Privacy settings.

“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,” said Ben Marder, author of the report and early career fellow in marketing it the Business School. Interestingly, only one third of people in the survey used the privacy setting on their Facebook profile which allows user to control who sees what types of information.

Source: MedicalNewsToday, University of Edinburgh