People who spend lots of time on Facebook comparing their lives to the lives of their friends may be at risk of developing symptoms of depression, new findings suggests.

According to US researcher, Mai-ly Steers, of the University of Houston, while the idea of ‘social comparison' is nothing new and has been studied at length, ‘the literature is only beginning to explore social comparisons in online social networking settings'.

She carried out two studies to assess the psychological impact on people when they compared themselves to their peers on Facebook. Both studies suggested that regular users of the popular social networking site feel depressed when making such comparisons.

"It doesn't mean Facebook causes depression, but that depressed feelings and lots of time on Facebook and comparing oneself to others tend to go hand in hand," Ms Steers noted.

She pointed out that while many people compare themselves to others, online comparisons may make people feel worse.

"One danger is that Facebook often gives us information about our friends that we are not normally privy to, which gives us even more opportunities to socially compare. You can't really control the impulse to compare because you never know what your friends are going to post," she said.

She also emphasised that most people using Facebook only post about the good things in their lives, leaving out the bad.

"If we're comparing ourselves to our friends' ‘highlight reels', this may lead us to think their lives are better than they actually are and conversely, make us feel worse about our own lives," Ms Steers said.

She noted that people with emotional problems may be particularly at risk of experiencing depressive symptoms if they spend a lot of time on Facebook comparing their lives to others. Having an often one-sided view of their friends' lives may compound feelings of isolation and loneliness.

"This research and previous research indicates the act of socially comparing oneself to others is related to long-term destructive emotions. Any benefit gained from making social comparisons is temporary, and engaging in frequent social comparison of any kind may be linked to lower wellbeing," Ms Steers added.

Details of these findings are published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology.

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