A report from USA Today claims that many people are having to take a “time-out” from Facebook as a result of election fatigue following a fierce presidential campaign.
The report claims that many people felt election fatigue as a result of social media where the conversation was increasingly polarized and vitriolic.
Google executive Ben Galbraith has vowed to skip Facebook until 2017 as there are so many “posts that fill me with anger and require several moments of conscious relaxation to prevent me from writing something that I’ll regret.”
“I’m tired of expending so much mental and emotional energy,” he continued.
Dr. Suzanne Wallach, a psychotherapist in Los Angeles, said “this election has prompted a level of denial in people. They feel traumatised and ostracized.”
Figures from the Pew Research Centre now suggest that 62% of Americans use Facebook as their primary news source and that it played a key role in the election.
Following his election as president, Donald Trump said his use of social media was a key factor in his victory, helping to get his message out in a way Hillary Clinton struggled.
“I think it helped me win all of these races where they’re spending much more money than I spent,” Trump said.
However, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has since denied that Facebook helped lead Donald Trump to victory.
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