Although previous studies have shown that Facebook is probably making you sad by constantly rubbing your face in everyone else's happiness, quitting is simply too hard for most people. A new study out of Cornell University may have answered the bigger question: Why is that?
Researchers there studied 5,000 people who participated in 99 Days of Freedom, a project that encouraged people to attempt to give up Facebook for 99 days, NBC News reported.
The people who couldn't make it the 99 days, and there were a whole lot of them, shared a few specific qualities. The number one factor was that they believed Facebook was addictive to begin with. The key then, it would seem, would be convincing yourself that you're not addicted to Facebook before you try to give it up.
Researchers also found that people who tend to fall into other compulsive behaviors are the ones who struggle the most with "maintaining non-use" of Facebook. So if you've got an addictive personality anyway, Facebook is going to be habit forming just like nicotine, pizza, sex, Oreos, Xbox, or anything else that's great.
Lastly, sad people look at Facebook way more often (which is probably perpetuating some kind of Facebook sadness cycle that will eventually maybe destroy civilization). People who were feeling positive in general found it much easier to avoid logging on.
