The trouble with leaving Facebook is that we like Facebook

So what makes social media so sticky even though we know it’s also risky? The answer, perhaps unsurprisingly, lies in the whole “social” part, said Cohen and Andreas Kaplan, a marketing professor who studies social media at the ESCP Europe business school. Social media, and particularly Facebook, has become the place where our social lives happen. Sixty-seven percent of Americans say online communication strengthens their relationships — compared with just 18 percent who say it makes those relationships weaker. If you aren’t on Facebook, you’re missing out on important parts of your friends’ lives — maybe even missing your friends entirely, if they live far from you.

And even though not all of our experiences online are good, more of us report being treated kindly than report hostility. Same with how often we see people help each other on social media rather than needing to leave a social media group because it turned mean.

That ties in with what scientists call “ambient awareness” — a theory that having access to regular, small, seemingly disconnected bits of information about a person’s life can build stronger social connections, help us feel more bonded and make us happier.