The week in silly studies: People with more Facebook friends are more stressed

When most people sign up for Facebook they do it to be social and have some fun, but new research is showing it also causes stress.

Researchers at Edinburgh University's business school found having friends from many different social circles increases the risk of a user offending a friend, the Telegraph reports. Anxiety is greatly increased if people have parents or employers among their Facebook friends. It may seem like common sense that you wouldn't tell your parents the same thing you would tell your skiing/drinking buddies from university, but we're still glad someone spent the time to prove it.

[ Last week's silly study: People who live near bars drink more ]

Because it'll be useful in explaining to your parents why you have to unfriend them.

"Facebook used to be like a great party for all your friends where you can dance, drink and flirt," said the report's author Ben Marder, to the Telegraph. "But now with your mom, dad and boss there the party becomes an anxious event full of potential social landmines."

The problem is because all of the different groups have different expectations of the user.

"People will try and manage themselves and regulate how they appear on the site, so they will try and avoid saying things they think, as they are worried how it will appear," said Marder. "People will try and present a duller version of themself to please every audience as they are so concerned what other will think."

Stress on Facebook isn't only caused by having friends in different circles, but popular people feel more stress because they feel they have to continually update and amuse their large audience.

[ More Geekquinox: Bothered by negative thoughts? Throw them away ]

Since the launch of Facebook, there have been many other studies done to analyze the affects of having many friends. One found people with lots of Facebook friends are more likely to be narcissists, one found those people have fewer real friends and one from last year found those people have bigger brains.

Depending on your number of friends, you'll have to pick which study you believe. But maybe there is something to be gained from late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel's National Unfriend Day. Each year the comedian helps people all over the world by suggesting Facebook users they should stop being friends with people like the over-sharer, the proud parent and the animal lover.

Kimmel promises when you do this it will make you feel "good, very good." And apparently the research backs him up.

(Reuters photo)

The week in silly studies is a feature that appears each Tuesday.
It is not intended to mock real science.

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