Dr Yuem Sobotra, director of Sunrise Mental Clinic, says spending all your time on Facebook could be bad for your mental health.

Is too much Facebook bad for mental health?

If we spend too much time on Facebook without going outside we risk mental health problems. We could become addicted to Facebook and stop communicating with people around us.

Why do people like to communicate through Facebook rather than face-to-face?

Many people benefit from modern technology and nowadays Facebook is very popular for making friend and communicating.

We have noted that most people are willing to share problems on Facebook that they would never share in the real world.

Are Facebook friends real friends?

In general, an average person likely has between 100 and 1,000 friends. I think many of these are not “real” friends because they do not know each other well – not like real friends do.

And, furthermore, not only can one person have more than one account, but they can add friends who they have never even met in real life before. Then again, some of our Facebook friends are indeed our real friends.

Is it a problem if we spend a lot of time on Facebook without going out to meet friends in the real world?

Spending too much time chatting with friends through Facebook can harm our health because we sit for a long time without food and just stay alone in a room. If we continue to act like this more and more we will not want to communicate with people around us in real society.

Is it wrong to chat and share with friends on Facebook?

Sharing things like pictures and messages with each other can help reduce stress, possibly even easing mental health problems.

This is a good way of sharing and expressing our emotions.

Some people dare not share directly with their friends but are happy to do so through social networking, so it is good - but people need to remember to do in only in moderation.

Why do so many people choose Facebook to express their emotions? Is this linked with mental illness?

Actually, most people using Facebook are not in danger of mental health problems. Some people can kick their addiction by themselves; however, some are not able to. These are the people who need help, be it medicine, a doctor or simply a change of lifestyle.

We can cure mental problems with a healthy daily routine and by surrounding ourselves with real people who really care about us.

When we get stressed, we want to share how we feel with others because instead of just bottling it up inside. We looked at why people like to share on Facebook and found that it is a healthy means of venting and keeping emotions in equilibrium.

When people have a status update or picture “liked” by a friend their stress will be reduced. In fact, even if people don’t get very many “likes”, sharing on Facebook can still be beneficial, because it still releases stress.