Facebook news feed might look like a collage of kitchen triumphs, cats in trouble, and boastful baby pictures, but it could also be a minefield of jealousy bombs. Stumble upon one and science says you’ll be on your man’s profile faster than Mr. Zuckerberg can roll out the next update.
In response to feelings of jealousy, researchers discovered across two studies that women are more likely to monitor their partner’s activities on Facebook than men. As attachment anxiety increases, so do the minutes women spend monitoring Facebook in general—spending the most time on their partner’s page on days when they report the greatest jealousy.
Why does a photo of your partner and a non-related friend— mutual or not—illicit a pang of jealousy so hot it makes your ears red? “Because this information often lacks context,” says Amy Muise, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto Mississauga and the author of the study published in Personal Relationships. So while you might not know the person he just friended or the intentions behind that well post from an old high school friend, it’s enough to keep you on his page for the rest of your lunch break.
It’s not that men don’t get jealous—it’s just the difference in how each gender handles it. “Men and women might manage and express their insecurities differently, at least in the context of Facebook,” says Muise, who knew from previous research that women in general spend more time managing their own profiles than men. “Men and women may perceive different expectations on Facebook where women are expected to manage their relationship in this context.” And that context is a very public one, which naturally raises the stakes.
So if men aren’t creeping on your Facebook when they feel jealous, then what are they doing? Researchers aren’t sure. But in the meantime, know this: an hour of sifting through his new female Facebook friend’s profile pictures isn’t going to get you anywhere. Got a conflict?
Resolve it offline.
The strange thing that happens when you Facebook-stalk strangers
THE CLAIM: It’s time to stop that online sleuthing. A study published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking reports that scrolling through people’s Facebook profiles before you meet them could actually make you more nervous when the time comes to see them in person.
THE RESEARCH: Researchers from Benedictine University in Lisle, Illinois, had 26 female
undergraduates take a test that measured their social anxiety. A week later, after being hooked up to equipment that measured their skin’s electrical conductivity (a measure of physiological arousal), the participants were split into four groups: one group looked at the Facebook profile
of a study collaborator before seeing her in person; another saw the collaborator first and then viewed her Facebook profile;
one group only looked at the Facebook profile; and the last group only saw the collaborator in person. The results? Those who looked at the Facebook
profile before seeing the person experienced higher arousal scores, particularly those with mild social anxiety.
WHAT IT MEANS: While researchers can’t say for sure that arousal translates to anxiety, the fact that scores increased the most among socially anxious people leads them to believe that in this case, arousal was a negative thing (levels of arousal would have dropped if checking out the pictures made subjects more
relaxed). The researchers believe that the unhealthy social comparisons Facebook is known to cause could be to blame.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Unless you have a really good reason to do some online snooping, avoid
it. “Previous research has shown that online communication, like in chat rooms, can lower social anxiety,” says Shannon Rauch, lead study author and assistant professor of psychology at Benedictine. “But with Facebook, people just go on and browse around, and we start to ruminate on what we see, which can increase our anxiety.” (prevention.com)
