When we talk about social networking, Facebook - with a subscriber base of approximately 500 million users, is the top social networking site in the world. It is believed that half of its users (which amounts to around 250 million people) log on to their Facebook account every single day without failing. Going through the statistics on how much time do people spend on Facebook or how often people check their account, you can't help but notice that Facebook addiction has gone much beyond a simple obsession.
Facebook Addiction Symptoms
You wake up early in the morning and first thing you do is log onto your Facebook account to check what transpired when you were fast asleep at night. This may seem to be a coincident - but that's exactly what you did last night before you went to sleep! The fact is that this is no coincident, but a sign that you are probably suffering from Facebook addiction disorder. Given below are 10 symptoms of Facebook addiction which will help you figure out whether you are really addicted to Facebook, which, one can safely say is a whole step ahead of even the signs of Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD).- You wake up in the morning, and first thing you do is log onto your Facebook account.
- You spend more than an hour on Facebook - at a stretch or in short episodes over regular intervals.
- You and your siblings converse through Facebook wall and messages, even though you stay in same house.
- You can't seem to stop thinking about Facebook updates and comments when you are offline.
- You check Facebook for updates and comments after every hour at your workstation or on your cell phone.
- You look forward to get home in the evening so that you can see what is happening in cyberspace (on Facebook to be precise.)
- Your Facebook wall is full of status updates, comments, and applications that you just used.
- You can't go for a day without using Facebook, and even this thought makes you go into sort of depression.
- You give priority to Facebook over your commitments in professional and personal life.
- And lastly, your day ends with you checking Facebook for that one last time and bidding people 'good nite' through your Facebook status update. (You may even get an urge to wake up at middle of the night to see whether anyone has commented on your 'gud nite' status.)
Facebook Addiction Help
So how do you get rid of your Facebook addiction? The foremost thing to do is to admit that you are suffering from it and understand that it can affect your life. Only when you are convinced of these two facts, you will be able to make any headway towards your Facebook de-addiction resolve. The next step will be to decide how much time you would want to spend on Facebook everyday - the lesser time you spend better it is for you. At the same time you should try giving up Facebook for other events and activities. Spending more time with your family and friends, instead of being glued to your personal computer in your room, will be of great help in your de-addiction drive. Depending on since how long you have been using Facebook, you will have this urge to check it every once in a while - when you are in the office, before you go to sleep, early in the morning etc. You will have to make sure that you don't fall prey to any such urges. Simply put, you need to treat Facebook-ing as a pastime activity rather than a necessity, and you will be able to get rid of this addiction within a few days.
That was all you needed to know about Facebook addiction - with special emphasis on its symptoms and some tips to get rid of the same. Remember that Facebook addiction is just a facet of Internet addiction which can go much beyond Facebook. Basically, Internet addiction is a broad concept which encompasses addiction of social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, MySpace, etc., as well as addiction of online dating, video sharing, blogging and random surfing. Getting involved in the virtual world is not a bad thing, but getting involved to an extent wherein you ignore your personal and professional commitments surely is.
That was all you needed to know about Facebook addiction - with special emphasis on its symptoms and some tips to get rid of the same. Remember that Facebook addiction is just a facet of Internet addiction which can go much beyond Facebook. Basically, Internet addiction is a broad concept which encompasses addiction of social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, MySpace, etc., as well as addiction of online dating, video sharing, blogging and random surfing. Getting involved in the virtual world is not a bad thing, but getting involved to an extent wherein you ignore your personal and professional commitments surely is.
I was addicted to FB, specially Mafia Wars like a maniac but I was de-addicted as u put it when that account got hacked :-p. I do think of status updates a lot when something of interest happens and I think it's good enough to be shared with others.
ReplyDeleteFB unlike Flickr and other sites allows unlimited uploads, maybe a limit per day (never reached it) so it's a nice and easy way to share pictures of me n my friends.
I admit to having 2 of the 10 mentioned 'symptoms' of Facebook addiction but who hasn't, it certainly 'killed' Orkut! But I think people are getting saturated from Facebook as well and the new photo viewer is like an instigation to go off Facebook for good!
Overall, enjoyed your blog! Even though have a killer presentation tomorrow.
Keep posting dude!