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Facebook postings from your friends can make you feel excluded from the virtual world and this feeling, trivial as it may seem, is not easy to dismiss.
The interesting part is that your friends never want to hurt you with their messages, but users tend to develop a sense of social exclusion that may actually inhibit intelligent thinking, according to a University study in Buffalo.
The researchers added that the short-term effects of these publications create negative emotions for users who read them and can affect thought processes in ways that make users more sensitive to commercials.
"These results are compelling – we use these technologies daily and provide users with information about their networks, what sites are designed to do, but ultimately, there is a negative effect on people's well-being." said Michael Stefanone, associate professor and expert in computer-assisted communication and social networking.
The findings, published in the journal Social Science Computer Review, raise questions about how exposure to these interactions affects daily functioning.
Offline research suggests that social exclusion evokes various physical and psychological consequences such as the reduction of complex cognitive thinking.
"Given the amount of time that individuals spend online, it's important to study the effects of social exclusion online," said lead author Jessica Covert.
Social exclusion, even something that may seem trivial, is one of the most powerful sanctions that people can use against others and can have harmful psychological effects.
"When users see these exclusion signals from their friends – who did not really exclude them, but interpret it in this way – they start to feel bad," Stefanone said.
For the study, Covert and Stefanone created scenarios designed to reflect typical interactions on Facebook, and 194 people participated in an experiment guaranteeing exposure to social exclusion.
The other group saw a stream with no information of social exclusion.
The results indicated that people exposed to social exclusion information involving their close friends experienced more negative emotions than the control group.
"The most important thing we all need to remember is to think carefully about our relationship with these companies and these social media platforms – they do not have our best interests in mind," Stefanone said.
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