Refraining from Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) for 99 days can increase the happiness in the life of the users, according to a new campaign launched following the controversial experiment done by Facebook. Not being active on Facebook for almost 3 months means that the user will not have to go through exhaustive status updates, pestering exes and frenemies and recurring Candy Crush Saga invitations.
Light moment turns into serious campaign
The website, propagating the campaign, itself is named 99 Days of Freedom created by Just, a creative agency based in Lieden, Netherlands. After registering to the site the users will have to post a “time-off” image as their profile picture and create a personal countdown on the Facebook to inform the friends of the latest decision.
After taking the required steps, users will receive anonymous “happiness surveys” at the 33-, 66-, and 99th day marks. Survey results will be shown on the website, the participants can share their experience on a message board.
The experiment started just as an office joke, and Just Art Director Merijn Straathof said that the news of secret mood tinkering study by Facebook bothered them like many others. While discussing, it emerged that every individual has a complicated relationship with Facebook like being tagged in an unappealing photo, heated discussion with other users or not able to overcome the habit of over obsession. Straathof said that there was an unexpected level of negative sentiments in people’s mind.
Art director, further, said that one of colleagues asked that how it feels when not using Facebook, which made everyone laugh, but in the next moment someone exclaimed that it is actually a good question. As on now, 3,267 people have registered for the life without Facebook campaign and the group claims that it can save 168 minutes, or 28 hours of freedom.
Does Facebook really make sad?
There have been numerous studies over how Facebook affects life and makes them depressed and sad. A study done last year by the team of psychologists from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and the University of Leuven in Belgium asked the participants about their state of mind five-times a day. The study revealed that Facebook has a direct correlation with how frequently users use it. As per the study, Facebook is an excellent media to connect , but it does not provide the happiness to individual overtime, which they feel while connecting face to face.
