Women who use Facebook more 'less happy and less content with their lives'

Washington, April 3 (ANI): Low educated and low income groups, and women who spend more time on Facebook report feeling less happy and less content with their lives, according to Sweden's largest Facebook study ever.

The study also found that women spend an average of 81 minutes per day on Facebook, whereas men spend 64 minutes.

The study is a project led by Leif Denti, doctoral student of psychology at the University of Gothenburg.

Facebook is a habit-forming activity - 85 percent of the respondents use Facebook as part of their daily routine. Almost half of the respondents indicated that it is difficult to stay updated and on top of things without Facebook, and one quarter responded that they would feel ill at ease if they didn't get to log in on a regular basis.

"Facebooking may become an unconscious habit. A majority of the respondents log in every time they start their web browser. This may even develop into an addiction," said Leif Denti, doctoral student of Psychology at the University of Gothenburg.

One third of the male respondents stated that they provoke others on Facebook. That is about twice the figure for women (one fifth). One quarter of the respondents use Facebook to brag.

"Facebook is a social tool that is clearly used to manage relationships with friends and family. But users won't write just anything - most of the content they share has something to do with major events, positive events and when feeling good. Only 38 percent write about negative emotions and events," stated Leif Denti.

The study found that Facebooking is primarily a habit among young users.

Older Facebook users use Facebook to get to know more people while 67 percent of young users use Facebook to kill time.

Women write more about emotions and relationships then men.

The study was based on data collected from more than 1000 Swedish 18-73 year olds from June to September 2011 via a web-based questionnaire. (ANI)