A massive global outage took down Facebook, along with its Instagram and WhatsApp platforms, for about six hours Monday.
"I noticed I couldn't get on Facebook at all, and I was trying to message my friend on Messenger and it was awful. I kept trying to connect and I thought it was my internet," said Lia Papadopoulos.
As Facebook and Instagram users tried to get back online Monday, Facebook apologized and thanked their users for bearing with them.
"There are probably a lot of people that this just makes them very very anxious," said Dr. Ellen Braaten, a licensed psychologist with Massachusetts General Hospital. "This is very much like using the entire phone system for the world back when I was a young child, it's really the place where a lot of people get their emotional support, they stay connected with their loved ones."
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"It's a way to kind of connect people across the county and across the world. It's interesting to see how it transpired," said Ryan Black.
Facebook didn't say what caused this outage, which comes one day after whistleblower Frances Haugen publicly alleged that Facebook placed profits before safety.
Three billion users use Facebook and Instagram to run businesses, connect to online communities and even order food.
Right now, Facebook says it doesn't believe there was any malicious intent involved.
