How to Defeat a Facebook Addiction Probably the most widely used and known social networking site, almost half of Facebooks users visit it every day.[1] And some of its users spend an inordinate amount of time on Facebook, allowing the hours to wile away unnoticed, the chores to go uncompleted, and even going so far as to ignore family and friends in the actual world.[2] While Facebook addiction or Facebook addiction disorder are not medically approved terms, the reality of addictive behaviors on Facebook are a growing problem for many Facebook users, and one that therapists are seeing more frequently in their patients.[3] If youve found that connecting, sharing, and learning via Facebook has taken over all avenues of communicating and learning in your life, its possible that youre suffering from Facebook addiction. And relax! This article isnt about stopping your enjoyment of Facebook; rather, the aim here is to help you identify whether youre using Facebook in an addictive way, and help you to find more constructive ways to connect socially via Facebook. StepsThings Youll NeedTips and Warnings 1 Recognize the signs of a Facebook addiction. While there is currently no such thing as a medically blessed diagnosable Facebook addiction or Facebook addiction disorder that a health or medical professional could categorically state youre suffering from, addictive behaviors have common threads that can lead to dysfunctional socializing and obsessive behaviors. The following signs indicate an unhealthy neediness for Facebook: You wake up and the first thing you do is check Facebook. And its the last thing you do at night. Nothing else thrills you or you feel empty without Facebook. All you want to do is spend time on Facebook, even to the exclusion of getting work done that needs to be done, or meeting family obligations. When not being on Facebook causes physical pain, sweats, illness and youre chomping at the leash to get back on it, your obsession has become an unhealthy one. Youre not able to go for more than a day without using Facebook. If forced to do so, you find yourself suffering from Facebook withdrawal symptoms, such as finding nothing else interesting, trying to find ways to get back to Facebook even if it means using a computer that is either out of bounds (for example, not yours), or difficult to get to, or you find yourself intensely worried about missing out on Facebook updates. These are all very unhealthy signs. Even if youre not on Facebook constantly (indicating you need a reality check), checking it many times during the day is a sign of compulsive behavior. Spending more than an hour on Facebook a day will easily cut into all the other obligations you have in life and may cause social dysfunction problems.[4] Your real life isnt going so well and Facebook presents a fantasy escape life where everything seems unencumbered, neat, happy, and easy – all things that are the opposite of your everyday life. Adequate sleep ceases to be important to you.[5] Instead, youre prepared to stay up way too late just to be able to accommodate your Facebook neediness. After all, you excuse yourself, your friends might think its remiss of you not to be around! Nostalgia has you in its grip. When Facebook starts becoming a way through which youre living in the past, its a sign of needing to break from it.[6] Rehashing old loves and friendships with the hope that you can pinpoint the exact moment where your life should have taken a different turn and trying to patch it up through fantasizing over Facebook is looking backwards and beating yourself up over what didnt work out. Realize the importance of living in the here and now. This type of nostalgia is even more damaging if you have a loose tongue about the relationships youre actually in because other people will be reading your words and some may perceive them as a betrayal or as signs of an emotional affair. You have tons of friends on Facebook but you still feel very lonely.[7]
Posted on: Sat, 05 Apr 2014 20:54:47 +0000
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