Katie Allingham: So, “Heavy Facebook Users Are Less Happy”. What, what’s your opinion?

Elizabeth Ford-Diprose: Yes to be honest, it’s pretty cliché to say. (Yeah) Yeah (Just agree) social media’s bad for you. But um…

Katie: Well, it’s- too much social media.

Elizabeth: Yeah yeah, yeah. That kind of heavy level of doing it. I mean…

Katie: Having to compare your life to someone else’s constantly.

Elizabeth: Yeah Like, when people, when people put stuff up, they genuinely do it on the basis of making it look amazing whatever they’re doing.

Katie: Mm showing off. Like, “Oh look at me, this is my life. (Yeah) This- I’m in The Ritz today, what are you doingpronounced, “DOOIN” (0:33)?”

Elizabeth: Haha. Eating breakfast (or something) at home, it’s pretty lame.

Katie: Breakfast at Tiffany’s. You’re having toast?

Elizabeth: Heh. Yeah like and and- I- ironically one of the- My mom told me something. Um, she knew a woman from uh, who had kids at the same high school my sisters go to. Um and they’d gone to a parents’ evening. And um, this woman like facebookssome nouns can become used as a verb (0:52) about every single thing she did and always about her kid. She’d be likemeans “acting in this way”. Note how quickly Elizabeth says it. (0:55), “I love my kids just so much. They’re just everything to me. They’re my children”.

Katie: I knew a woman who did that.

Elizabeth: Um and she came to this parents’ evening. And my mom, Who’s been to like several by now. She’s got a lot of kids, and uh, was like, “Oh, they get a bit boring after a while, don’t they?” Becausean example of repeating as opposed to using filler words (1:09) she had been sat next to this woman, and this woman was like, “No. Oh, I love coming to each and very one. I love my kids!” Do you know what then- she then proceeded to do?

Katie: Did she make a Facebook post- status?

Elizabeth: No, she fell asleep.

Katie: She fell asleep?

Elizabeth: She fell asleep during the thing.

Katie: I thought you were going to be like, “She made a status- Like… ”

Elizabeth: No. Yeah, She made a status (this woman) when she came back. (at the school thing) She came back and wentin this case means “said” She came back and said. (1:25), “Oh my god, the parents’ evening was just amazing again!” It’s like, you fell asleep! My mom was so tempted to comment like, “oh, if you we’re awake. Haha (Ah) you would’ve loved it!” (Yeah, see) So, it just goes to show that so much of it, (is fake) is not even true. It’s not even true.

Katie: But then, my dad, he uses Facebook a lot. I don’t even know why. But his statuses-

Elizabeth: He doesn’t have any friends haha.

Katie: He would, he’d- Anyway, but when he does a status, it’s more like a paragraph of like, something in his life that has happened. Like one time it was about his um, how much he was- earned, how he- how much he got paid and how much he- it was bad and he revels on but he uses as like a- as a victimized- or to try and get attention of (Yeah) some sympathy of me and Daniel, which shows, he’s less- he’s not happy. (Yeah) So then he tri- he says these things on status because he knows me and DanielKatie should have said “Daniel and I” (2:13), my brother, that’s Daniel, will read it and to try and engage us to feel sorry for him but to be honest we just read it and then show my mum and then bitch about it. (Ha ha) It’s true. “Did you see Dad’s Facebook (Oh god) status? (Yes) My god!” But he’s always on Facebook and he’s always sharing things, strange things; tagging me in things.

Elizabeth: Yeah it’s that desperation for oh, again a bit cliché, but the validation, like so many people I knew in high school and, probably do it now- if they’re in high school probably would take down a post or a picture if it didn’t get a certain number of likes within a certain amount of minutes.

Katie: Yeah! Or when people- what I hate on people on Facebook is when they re- they re-put up the same profile picture that they already have to get more like, “likes” on it because it will come back on news feeds, the people put on the same picture, just so it, you know what I mean?

Elizabeth: Yeah and then they’ll get visibly upset (Yeah then if) in real life.

Katie: Well they change their profile picture so it doesn’t get likes…

Elizabeth: If it’s like, “Why didn’t you like my photo, Becky?”

Katie: Yeah so you know when they take…

Elizabeth: “I liked yours! Becky?” ha ha. True story. Ha ha.

Katie: Yeah well yeah, well it does it affects your um self-confidence. Because if you put up a picture of yourself and you get like five likes, and your like, “Oh. Why? (Yeah) What’s wrong with my face?”.

Elizabeth: I like it myself. Just add that six. Put six up there.

Katie: Get an extra like.

Elizabeth: I’ve got my confidence back. No but um, I think (Because it) it’s it’s got it’s uses Facebook has.

Katie: Yeah, but too much of it…

Elizabeth: But I think if you obsess and focus all of- how to derive happiness from it, (Mm) it’s get- it’s not going to work, (No) really.

Katie: Yeah.