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Wellness

Scientists say scanning Facebook makes you seriously body-conscious

We do it a couple times a day, the good ol’ Facebook News Feed scan. We want to see what our friends are up to, make sure our exes haven’t suddenly changed their relationship statuses, check out new pictures and like silly things. But all that time we’re spending flicking through others’ lives might just be negatively effecting our own.

A new study confirms that looking at Facebook—particularly other friends’ pictures—can make you more self-critical. Scientists quizzed 881 college-age women about their social media activities and how they feel about themselves and, more particularly, their bodies. The more time women spent on Facebook, the more likely they were to report that they spend a lot of time thinking about their physical appearance. They were also more likely to feel badly about themselves after seeing another’s pictures.

The good news is that time spent on Facebook in no way equated to eating disorders, scientists found. The thing to remember about social media in general and Facebook especially is that all of your friends post only the very best things. Photos are filtered and tagged only if they’re particularly flattering. When you scan through your News Feed, you’re seeing a curated view of someone’s life, not the reality.

Do you spend a lot of time on Facebook? Tell us in the comments!

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POSTED IN body image, I feel fat, Love your bod, self-esteem, self-esteem, Facebook