Linkagoal website slammed for ‘guilt-tripping’ users into staying healthy
- Social network Linkagoal criticised for using ‘guilt’ to keep people healthy
- Users feel ‘pressured’ by others seeing the progress via the website
- Mental health experts have warned this could increase risk of depression
Rachel Ellis for The Mail on Sunday
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Sharing personal goals online can help you achieve them – by making you feel guilty when you fail, according to new research.
Newly launched social-networking site Linkagoal, where users register and share goals with followers, claims a ‘healthy dose of guilt’ provides ‘just the right amount of pressure’ to keep people on track.
However, the site’s ‘shame and guilt’ approach has been criticised by mental-health experts as detrimental and they say it could have the opposite effect.
Newly-launched social media site Linkagoal, pictured, claims to use a ‘healthy dose of guilt’ to keep people on track to achieve their goals,
Research by Linkagoal in partnership with YouGov found that almost two-thirds (62 per cent) of social-media users feel more pressure to stay on track if they know that others can see their progress towards their goal – dubbed by the company as being ‘guilted into goals’.
In addition, more than half say they would feel more obliged to stick with a diet or training plan if they have shared their objective online.
Nearly 60 per cent say that online ‘likes’ and positive feedback on their progress towards achieving a goal helps them feel motivated.
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Mohsin Shafique, CEO and founder of Linkagoal, said: ‘We launched the research to further explore what really motivates us, particularly in relation to annual resolutions. What we found is that there is a need to rethink how we set goals.’
However, mental-health experts have warned that it may increase risk of depression and anxiety.
‘This approach is about avoiding the negative – that is, the threat of everyone knowing that you have failed to meet your goal – rather than encouragement and reinforcing the positive,’ said Anna Albright, a leading cognitive behavioural therapist based in London.
‘People feel depressed when they feel they have failed. We don’t encourage people to achieve by presenting them with a threat of exposure, shame and guilt.’
Mental health experts say the site’s ‘guilt and shame’ approach could lead to an increase in the risk of depression and anxiety among users (file picture)
Phillip Hodson, psychotherapist and fellow of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, agrees.
‘Guilt is a blunt instrument and a one-sized solution,’ he says. ‘We are dealing with emotions, and we don’t know how to measure emotion.’
A 2012 study by Anxiety UK found that more than half of respondents who regularly use social-networking sites saw their behaviour change negatively.
The most common negative impact of online networks was that their confidence fell as a result of comparing their lives and achievements with others on social media.
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