Delete Facebook — it may make you feel better

Over the past few weeks, #deleteFacebook has been rampant across the web. Cambridge Analytica, a political data-mining and consulting firm, got a hold of the personal information of 50 million Facebook users. It may have later used the information to craft ads and messages for President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. Now, according to a survey from Raymond James investment firm, 84 percent of users are somewhat or very concerned about how their data might be used by Facebook. However, nearly half of these people said this would not affect how much they use Facebook.

American Facebook users, on average, spend 50 minutes each day browsing the social media platform. We obsess over how many likes we get and how many people comment on our statuses. If we don’t break our like record on Instagram, we wonder whether it is because our picture is bad or because we posted at a bad time. We Google the best time each day to post to hit ideal engagement. They have us hook, line and sinker. We wake up and the first thing we do is check social media. Our whole lives are documented, and plenty of people we have as friends or followers have no way of keeping up with us aside from our profiles.

It doesn’t really seem like what a giant company does would affect us so much. But it does. Think of everything on your Facebook page. Think of everything you have sent over Facebook Messenger. Even if you are among those who try to keep their most personal information off Facebook, there is probably a lot more about you on that website than you realize. From your personal information such as where you work and where you went to college to pictures of you and your friends and everything in between, anyone who looks at your page can tell a lot about you.

Research has shown using social media can cause anxiety, stress and depression, and it can negatively affect sleep quality. It can be addictive and hurt your self-esteem. The culture of comparison can be toxic, but generally we only worry about the people we interact with. Now we worry about being “on the grid.” We worry the same way we worry our Amazon Echo is always listening, and anything we even think about is used for targeted advertising.

We’ve been taught from an early age to be careful what we put online. Future employers, significant others’ parents and our own parents can see what’s on our pages, and even if you delete it, someone could have already seen it or taken a screenshot. This is not news to us. It causes some stress because we have to carefully monitor what we are tagged in and who captures our behavior in a photo or on video. However, this aspect is fairly easy to keep track of. If it’s “on private” or in a direct message, only our friends and ourselves can see it.

Except that’s not true. Advertising and analytics companies have your information. It’s out there. We absentmindedly click “I agree” on those thousand-page privacy and usage agreements. Is it a little shady our information gets sold to these companies? Maybe. The issue is not even the legality here. The issue is how we feel about it.

So, dear readers, be careful. If you try too hard to be in complete control of what information of yours is out there, you’ll drive yourself crazy. But, for your own sanity, try to keep some things private. You’ll feel more in control. A large cause of stress is feeling as though you have no control over your life. Try to hold some things close to the vest. You may feel better. Also, don’t feel like you can’t delete social media. If that’s the best choice for you and your mental health, do it. Your friends will still talk to you, and you’ll still know what’s going on in the world. Do what’s best for you.

Taylor Cavaliere is a UF journalism and psychology junior. Her column focuses on mental health.