With the semester starting again, it is time to get back into the swing of school. For many students, that means constantly checking the University of Utah Confessions and Crushes pages on Facebook. These types of pages are at nearly every college and university now. Despite seeming like a good idea, these pages actually have the potential to do more harm than good.

The little research we have on social networking sites is fascinating. On the surface it may appear these sites have the potential to increase happiness, allowing people to communicate and connect in new ways, but in the long run, studies suggest sites like Facebook have the opposite effect.

PLOS ONE recently published a study supporting this view. “These analyses indicated that Facebook use predicts declines in the two components of subjective well-being: how people feel moment-to-moment and how satisfied they are with their lives.”

This study also showed that direct interaction with peers did not predict declines in well-being and that people are not more likely to use Facebook when they feel bad. This research suggests there is something integrally different with socializing in the cyber world vs. reality.

These pages are creating a warped window into college life. Just as only certain aspects of life are posted on Facebook, only certain aspects of the college life are posted on these pages. These are the unrealistic images of college that permeate our culture. Just look at this post with 300+ likes: “I feel that college is the only place where it is socially acceptable to be poor and drunk.”

When you actually look at these pages, they are not affiliated with the college or university, and they are run by one or a handful of people. These people choose what posts go on and which ones don’t. Far from being an actual confession page, it is more of a personal page.

We are slowly realizing these social network sites have just as many negatives as positives. When you look at these confession/crush pages, it is just the same. These places do provide a digital space for students to talk about things anonymously, but this takes away from the real-world experience.

Just like everything in life, there are positives and negatives to using Facebook. With the research that is being conducted, we are better able to understand the negative and avoid them. These confessions and crush pages are not all bad, but they need to be paired with the real-world.

letters@chronicle.utah.edu