Facebook has grown into a behemoth of a social network that includes almost everyone you know. It's how family, friends, and work colleagues stay in touch. It's how families communicate and friendships flourish.

In essence, Facebook has---for better or worse---a core part of our society, and shows no sign of disappearing anytime soon.

So should you disable your Facebook account? There is an endless chorus of voices saying you should do just that. However, in this article, we look at the best reasons not to delete Facebook.

1. Facebook Helps You Stay in Touch

Facebook is one of the main reasons families are more in touch now than ever before.

This is especially true for adults who grew up in a world without the internet and without social media. According to research, a quarter of all adults surveyed reported that they feel the internet and smartphones contribute to closer family relationships than they had when they were growing up.

These close family relationships would not be as easy to maintain it wasn't for you keeping and updating your Facebook profile. Your family and friends likely depend on it to feel like they're still close to you, no matter how far away you may be.

2. You Can Land a Job on Facebook

Losing a job is difficult. Finding yourself tossed into the whole job-search game unexpectedly can feel overwhelming. It's true that LinkedIn is helpful for finding jobs (at least if you maintain your LinkedIn profile), but Facebook is an invaluable resource as well.

When you lose your job, you can turn to your trusted Facebook friends for tips and advice on any job leads. If you have a lot of Facebook friends, the response could be immediate. It might surprise you just how many job openings your friends will have come across in the course of their work with specific clients.

Of course, this is much more likely to happen if you have a lot of friends on Facebook who work in the same industry or business that you do---so make sure you start adding both current and old colleagues. However, you can also argue it's also more likely to happen on Facebook because people there care a lot more about you than the people you're loosely connected to on LinkedIn.

And don't forget, there are also lots of job listings on Facebook you can browse through at leisure.

3. Facebook Can Support Your Mental Health

You've probably read countless articles and blog posts claiming that technology is terrible for your mental health. And social media is often cited as the biggest culprit.

Would you be surprised to learn that several early studies actually showed Facebook reduces stress and improves self-esteem? It's true.

One study, conducted by MIT and the University of Milan, recorded the physiology of 30 healthy student volunteers during exposure to three types of experiences:

• A relaxing slideshow of natural panoramas.
• The volunteer's Facebook account.
• A set of stressful mathematical tasks.

Researchers discovered that using Facebook resulted in "high positive valence and high arousal".

In the summary of the report, the researchers concluded:

These findings support the hypothesis that the successful spread of SNSs might be associated with a specific positive affective state experienced by users when they use their SNSs account.

Not only does using Facebook help you reduce stress, but it also improves your self-esteem.

This isn't to say that all use of Facebook has positive effects. Another study suggests that just passively using Facebook and never interacting with people can contribute to a decline in mental health.

The bottom line is, if social media is used moderately and used to actively interact with other people you care about, the effects can be positive---and may even help you live longer.

4. Facebook Supports Your Love Life

One of the hardest parts about maintaining strong relationships these days is how busy everyone seems to be. This is especially true when you're in a long-term relationship while trying to maintain a career, education, or other things that demand your time.

Facebook lets you keep the spark alive in your relationship. It lets you chat instantly during your lunch break, plan meals together before heading home, and keep in close contact whenever you're on a business trip.

It's not hard to figure out why a platform that helps you to communicate more with your significant other will boost that relationship.

5. Facebook Helps You Get Informed Quickly

Ever since Facebook became so widely used, you will often hear about breaking news on Facebook before anywhere else.

Whether it's a social crisis, a weather disaster, or a celebrity death, you're far more likely to discover the news during your next Facebook check.

In 2017, the Pew Research Center reported that two-thirds of Americans get their news from social media sources, and Facebook is the leading source of them all. This is a remarkable social shift, and yet another reason why keeping your Facebook account active is good.

Of course, whether Facebook is one of the news sources you can trust is still debatable.

6. Facebook Can Be a Support Group

Whenever you're going through a tragedy or other difficult times in life, sharing your experience with others is a powerful form of therapy.

However, for some people, either the isolation of a disability or living in a remote location makes attending such support groups difficult, if not impossible.

A significant number of support groups has formed on Facebook over the years.

On Facebook, you can find large groups filled with people dealing with every stage of life and every issue that life might throw at you. There are groups for depression, grieving, divorce, attending college, getting married, and much more.

This goes back to Facebook being a positive influence on mental health, but only if used wisely. Actively interacting with other people, especially when you're all dealing with common struggles or experiences, will help you feel supported.

7. Facebook Can Make You Feel Loved

I've seen even the most passive Facebook users come to life whenever their birthday rolls around.

If there's any social network that does birthdays well, it's Facebook. The social network automatically sends all of your friends a reminder on your birthday. This leads to an onslaught of good wishes and congratulatory messages from everyone you know.

Your birthday may be the only day of the year that you hear from distant family or friends.

It's a tremendous experience to have so many people from your present and past recognize you in a single day. It makes you feel appreciated and loved.

It's often a day when you find yourself clicking on those old friends' profiles and browsing through their family photographs and daily posts. You have these people in your life for a reason, and Facebook is often a reminder that they're important to you.

Facebook Isn't All Doom and Gloom

It's true that some uses of Facebook---debating controversial subjects with sensitive people or passively scrolling through your feed---are not good for you.

However, the pros of using Facebook far outweigh the cons. Which is why you should keep your Facebook profile active and carry on using the social network as often as you want. And maybe, just maybe, you'll find what you're looking for on Facebook!