Why does Facebook make me feel depressed?

[Jim A]

I have been using facebook on/off for the past four years. Ever since high school, I would constantly use facebook and add friends. I enjoyed reading their status updates and viewing the pictures that they posted. However, I am not a very sociable guy so I would feel depressed when people would post pictures with their friends and family because I was not experiencing any of that.

I stopped using facebook but then I started again and felt upset when people started to delete me or unfriend me. If I logged on and noticed that I had one less friend than before, I would get very paranoid and wonder who deleted me. I would also ponder the reasons as to why they deleted me. It made me feel upset. Even when I log on for a short period of time and deactivate my account people still delete me.

I have heard so many stories of friendships rebuilding after long periods of time after facebook as well as people hailing it to be the best way to make friends and connect with people. However, why do I feel depressed and anxious when using a social networking site that is supposed to bring people together?