Before large businesses and publishers swamped Facebook’s feed, it solely focused on connecting friends and families. Nowadays, it has become a place to mindlessly scroll past food videos, celebrity articles, and ads. However, on January 11th, Facebook took a step towards recreating its past. Founder Mark Zuckerberg released a post announcing facebook’s algorithm place emphasis on family connections, and shy away other third party posts. He remarked that “research shows… when we use social media to connect with people we care about, it can be good for our well-being” (Zuckerburg). Many Facebook users are elated for Facebook’s step toward improving mental health.

According to a 2015 study by the Journal of Experimental Psychology, using facebook’s current model to view articles and ads negatively affect a student’s mood. Often displaying a series of videos without substance, Facebook causes users to feel trapped in a time wasting cycle.

Anthony Lin ‘19 notes, “Sometimes I can’t stop watching Facebook’s food videos, even at 2 in the morning. They look so delicious, I just want to see the next one!” With Facebook’s new algorithm, Anthony’s feed will be filled with less food videos, and more pictures of “relevant content”, such as photos of his friends and families. Zuckerberg aims to help users “have more meaningful interactions”, placing emphasis on people instead of unrelated content such as cooking videos.

Although there may be some individuals disappointed in Facebook’s new direction, they can still customize their account in the News Feed tab. For instance, those weary of constant postings from their distant relatives can “hide” certain people from their timeline. In addition, facebook users can still prioritize their favorite pages and choose which posts to view. Despite Zuckerberg’s hopes to significantly reform the platform, users still have plenty of flexibility.

Even so, Jessica Booth ‘18 believes that Facebook users will be less likely to visit the site with fewer commercial videos and posts to entertain them. Booth comments, “Sure I’d love to see pictures of my friends and family, but I would not waste as much time on it as I do now.” While Zuckerberg notes that as a whole, “the time people spend on Facebook … will go down”, he believes a decrease in the use of Facebook is well worth the creation of a healthier social media platform.