Stalking your ex on Facebook? You may be putting your mental health at stake!

London: Going by the pace at which social media has begun to dominate the world, it is not surprising that people would resort to the virtual space to know about people.

This said, the first place one would go to gain an insight about someone is the largest social media platform, Facebook.

Facebook is one platform, which connects everyone at a global level and today, almost every single person's profile can be found there with a simple click.

So, it doesn't come as a surprise that many girls and boys log on to Facebook to 'check' on their respective boyfriends and girlfriends.

However, it's the stalking that people do after a breakup, that has made the news. As per a new study, trailing and tracking your ex's on Facebook could hamper your mental health.

"Participants who remained Facebook friends with the ex-partner, relative to those who did not remain Facebook friends, reported less negative feelings, sexual desire, and longing for the former partner, but lower personal growth," said psychologist Tara Marshall of Brunel University London.

Marshall analysed the data provided by 464 study participants that revealed that Facebook surveillance was associated with greater current distress over the breakup, according to the study published recently in the journal of Cyberpsychology, Behaviour, and Social Networking.

"Overall, these findings suggest that exposure to an ex-partner through Facebook may obstruct the process of healing and moving on from a past relationship," she added.

The study results emerged after controlling for offline contact, personality traits, and characteristics of the former relationship and breakup that tend to predict post-breakup adjustment.

Earlier studies have linked Facebook stalking to increased levels of anxiety.

(With IANS inputs)