Why is Facebook making us depressed?

One in five people say using social media makes them depressed, according to a new report. The survey found that 6.9 million adults in the UK compare their lives to the lives portrayed in the posts of their friends, which are often exaggerated or polished, the Daily Mail reports.

More than half of users also felt pressured to use social media like Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, and 56 per cent said they felt pushed to post and share interesting content as well as engage with other profiles.

Eighteen per cent of users will only post a photo if they think they look attractive in it, with 7 per cent only posting a photo of themselves if it has been edited or uses a filter.

Engagement was also seen to be a qualifier of status - 10 per cent of users said they were embarrassed if a post didn`t receive any likes, favourites, retweets or comments and 8 per cent of people had removed posts with no interaction, a statistic that doubles among 18 to 34-year-olds.

In this age group, 8 per cent said they were disciplined or sacked from work for inappropriate posts, 23 per cent argued with users on social media, and 17 per cent left drunken comments that they later regretted.

The research was commissioned by Privilege Home Insurance.

- Social media is bringing the notion of modern friendships into question and - instead of spending quality time together - people increasingly seem to be basing how they see their popularity on superficial interactions and measures such as `likes. Everything posted to social feeds is visible on Google, so people must be savvy about what they`re putting out there - the minute you hit the post button, you no longer hold the rights to your own content - says Dan Simson, head of Privilege Home Insurance.