Why Facebook is Making You Angry, And What You Can Do to Solve It

Social media is the shining crown achievement of our generation. If you are unfamiliar with Facebook, either because you still don't own a computer or are too young to have a Facebook account (my target audience here are Amish infants), I will try to explain.

"What year is this!?"

Much like the fictitious land of Oz, Facebook takes you on a magical journey through the beautiful, and often times scary, minds of thousands of friends, enemies and companies. This most often includes people who appear to have no hearts, argumentative folks who are rusted to their own viewpoints, and the cowardly bunch that would rather say online what they would never say in public.

Pictured: Mark Zuckerberg

Sound pleasant?

Now I admit that my Facebook profile is a pretty terrible demographic to base this on. I have mostly 20-something year-old college friends who occupy themselves by wrastlin' life by the horns and assuring themselves that, "yes - two semesters into college and a psychology course does in fact mean that I understand the world." But lets zoom out and look more broadly.

Facebook is, above all, an amazing resource for immediate communication. Families are closer because of Facebook. Long-distance relationships are enabled by Facebook. I suspect that Facebook has been a bigger improvement to the world than a travesty.

I like Facebook.

But my God, Facebook makes me angry. Nearly every time I log off Facebook I am logging off because I am exhausted from forcing myself to read each consecutive post about peoples' opinions of Duck Dynasty. It's like a squished bug that you just HAVE to look at. Except it's not a bug, it's a person. And instead of squishing it, you are just forcing yourself to watch it masturbate all over the internet.

Note to self: porn parody for Human Centipede?

Well it turns out I'm not the only one. In January, TIME magazine published an article suggesting that 1 out of every 3 people felt worse after logging off Facebook than before they logged in. That's a third of the Facebook community that is becoming angrier the longer they are logged in!

So why? Well the main factor is one we all can assume and it's what is referred to as the Online Disinhibition Effect. What this distills down to is the idea that when alone and facing no tangible consequences for their actions, people tend to be more brazen and impulsive. The anonymity and lack of authority that Facebook provides helps to bring out our inner assholes (vivid phrasing is a specialty of mine). We all know this.

The only honest profile picture.

The danger here is that this overcomes who we actually are. The famous author, cultural figure, and Indiana native Kurt Vonnegut's opinion was that, "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.

I always ride the fence between thinking that either 1.) People show their true colors on Facebook, or 2.) People show their true colors in everyday life and are ONLY assholes on the internet. And still, I think think it's a case by case basis. After all, not all internet personalities are bad. Take a look at Stephen Colbert's or even the illustrious Phoenix Michelson's social media persona's.

No relation.

But in any case we should all do a better job at a couple things. We need to keep ourselves in check and BE OURSELVES on Facebook and we also need to be ourselves in real life! We do a disservice to ourselves by living a double life on social media. And if having a separate personality on Facebook is why you like it then you seriously need to invest in Grand Theft Auto V and surround yourself with better friends who let you be that person every day.

"THIS IS WHO I AM NOW!!!"

So if you're part of the 33% of us who get fed up with social media then here are some things you can do to combat it...

1.) Stop forcing yourself to look at all the crap that makes you mad. Do the dirty work and defriend or block those people from your timeline. It will take time but it's worth it.
2.) Make shorter more frequent visits to Facebook instead of leaving it up all day long. If Facebook makes you angry then staying logged in longer is not going to help. And chances are that the people who make you mad are the same ones who you always see logged in because they have nothing better to do or say.
3.) Give yourself a grace period before commenting or posting to avoid impulsive heat-of-the-moment posts.
4.) Stop taking Facebook so seriously.

Now I'm not saying you should shun everyone you have disagreements with. Discussions are good! but if Facebook is inhibiting your happiness on a daily basis STOP LETTING IT! And one thing that is never going to help is posting about how much it makes you mad, which I'll admit is a trap I fall into.

Overall, I gotta say, I love Facebook because it is an absolutely amazing and innovative accessory to life. It makes a LOT of things better. But don't let your life become the accessory to your Facebook persona. Stop living a separate personality online. And for the love of God stop pretending you care so much about Duck Dynasty.