Is Facebook Good or Bad for Your Self-Esteem?

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Is Facebook good or bad for your self-esteem? Facebook has millions of users worldwide. It helps people make new friends and at the same time keep in touch with old friends all with the help of internet. Some experts have observed that social network friends, like Facebook offers, are very different than real life friends. Studies show that Facebook users have or are at a risk of having low self-esteem. Geraint Rees and his colleagues at the University Collage of London examined the fMRI brain scans of more than 100 regular Facebook users. An fMRI (Functional magnetic resonance imaging or functional MRI) is an MRI procedure that measures brain activity by detecting associated changes in blood flow. After the scans, the number of online and offline friends were recorded. It was reported that the typical user had on average 300 Facebook friends. Researchers concluded that having more friends online did not significantly make particular part of the brain larger or more active. But, the researchers came to the conclusion that there was a positive correlation between the number of friends the subjects had online with the number of friends they had offline (Williams, Psychology Today). How do Facebook users want to be perceived by others? Facebook users “with low self-esteem tend to be very cautious and self-protective. It is very important to them to gain other’s acceptance and approval… people with low self-esteem might censor what they’re saying to present a kind positive and likable self-image on Facebook,” says Amanda L. Forrest (npr.org). The pictures and content they put on Facebook does not depict their real self. The responses they receive from their “friends” are for the fake self they put out there, leaving nothing to actually improve their low self-esteem. This research was conducted at the University of Waterloo in Ontario Canada. The Sample Survey
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