Half of the users of Facebook, the best known and most used social networking site, visit it every day. Many of these spend a great deal of time on Facebook, letting the hours go by without realizing it, putting off things to do, and to the point of ignoring real-life family and friends.
Although "Facebook addiction" or "Facebook addiction disorder" are not recognized clinical terms, the reality is that addictive attitudes are becoming more and more common among users, and many therapists are beginning to experience symptoms in their patients.
If you find that sharing, talking and learning via Facebook has monopolized all of your ways of communicating and researching, it is possible that you are suffering from Facebook addiction. Do not worry! This article will not try to stop you from liking Facebook; rather, it will aim to help you figure out if you are using it morbidly, and it will help you find more constructive ways to communicate on Facebook.
Steps
Step 1. Recognize the signs of a Facebook addiction
Although "Facebook addiction" or "Facebook addiction disorder" are not recognized clinical terms and cannot be diagnosed by a doctor, addictive attitudes have common traits that can lead to decreased social skills and obsessive behaviors.. The following signs indicate a morbid need for Facebook:
- When you wake up the first thing you do is "check Facebook". And also the last one before going to sleep.
- Nothing else excites you and you feel "empty" without Facebook. All you want to do is stay on Facebook, even avoiding doing the jobs that need to be done, or respecting family obligations. When withdrawal from Facebook causes you physical pain, sweat and a sense of discomfort accompanied by an irrepressible desire to use it, your obsession has become pathological.
- You can't go more than a day without Facebook. If you are forced to do this, you have "withdrawal" symptoms, such as not finding anything else interesting, trying to connect using computers that are not yours or difficult to reach, or feeling very worried that you are not reading the latest updates. These are all worrying signs.
- Even if you're not on Facebook constantly, checking it many times a day is a symptom of a compulsive attitude. Spending more than an hour a day on Facebook can undermine your obligations and cause you social problems.
- Your real life isn't that good and Facebook is an escape, where everything seems simpler, clearer, happier - the opposite of your daily life.
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Sleeping well is no longer important to you. Instead, you're ready to stay up very late just so you can satisfy your Facebook craving. After all, you tell yourself, your friends may think you don't want to be with them if you're not online!
TiredFBfan - You suffer from nostalgia. When Facebook starts to be a way to live in the past, it's a sign that you need to take a break. Reliving old loves and friendships with the hope of getting back to where your life should have gone differently and trying to make up for it by fantasizing on Facebook means not progressing and continuing to blame yourself for what went wrong. Understand the importance of living in the present. This type of nostalgia will be even more damaging when paired with confessions about your current relationships, because other people will think you are carrying on an emotional betrayal.
- You have hundreds of friends on Facebook but still feel alone.
Step 2. Start wondering what you do on Facebook
Instead of just going to the site and being "carried away by its magic", try to understand what you really get from Facebook. It will do you good to ask yourself what its value is in your life, especially if you think you have overused it a bit. Continue only the activities that bring something, and limit them in time. Record what you do on Facebook for a week. Write down everything diligently and do not leave out anything; buy a notebook and update it. Pay particular attention to these things:
- If you log in just to reply to pokes, to read your friends' status updates, to write a new note, or to see the videos they have added, you are a slave to curiosity. Letting curiosity rule your life can have negative effects in the long run.
- Do you browse Facebook aimlessly? You just accepted a new friend, and are curious about who that friend's friends are and if they are already your friends, or could they be your friends, and what are they doing? If this sounds familiar to you, you are wasting your time on Facebook. You got hooked on Facebook's ease of connection without noticing the lack of results.
- Do you justify the use for business purposes? Even someone who uses Facebook for business purposes may begin to confuse business with private activity under the word "work". It is important to understand when it is happening and to divide the two activities, in order to limit them both in time. Otherwise you would be giving yourself too much justification for spending time on Facebook.
- Is that friend really a friend? How useful is it for you to maintain a friendship with someone you've never met but added just because they were the friend of a true friend of yours? He could be a wonderful person, but if he has no contact with you, it could be part of the distractions that lead you to lose yourself in Facebook rather than use it appropriately.
- Is something you do constructive from a personal or professional point of view? Answer honestly!
Step 3. Decide what Facebook's value is
Whatever your reason for being a part of Facebook, boundaries matter and knowing what's valuable and what's not will help you improve your bad habits on the net. Even the purpose of updating your family about your activities when you are abroad can get out of control if your concept of "family" changes. If you use Facebook for personal and business reasons, its value will likely be larger, but it's still important to define what's valuable for work and what for personal activities. When deciding what Facebook value has, consider the following points:
- You have fun? Is this fun balanced with the other fun possibilities in life?
- Do you feel compelled to reply to certain people on Facebook, even if you would rather not?
- What parts of Facebook improve your personal and professional life? It can be useful to write a list, to clarify the negative aspects and platitudes.
Step 4. Try leaving Facebook during a specific event to see how you react
This article does not recommend that you quit Facebook altogether if you don't want to. However, it may be useful to choose a special event and decide that you will never use Facebook for the duration of that event. You may also warn your Facebook friends of your intent, but don't betray your purpose. For example, some Facebook users do not use it during summer holidays or for religious reasons during Lent, and others take a break at weddings, birthdays or other family events for which they will need to prepare, travel, be available, etc. without getting distracted.
- Each well-defined event is suitable for breaking a habit because it is an occasion in which you will have to focus on something else and not on yourself, whether it is faith, family or other external aspects. This can help you get out of the order of ideas that kept you glued to Facebook, as well as set a time to promise you won't use it. During this break, reflect on your need for Facebook and think about how to relearn how to use it the right way.
- The good thing about telling your Facebook friends that you won't be connecting for some time is that you have created a moral commitment that will make you "lose face" if you decide to break your promise. Be strong and show everyone that you keep your word.
Step 5. Look for ways to use Facebook smarter in the future
While you might unsubscribe from Facebook, it's probably much more productive, constructive, and socially beneficial to learn how to manage it and give it the importance it deserves in your life. Here are some positive solutions for using Facebook in a healthy way:
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Avoid wasting time on details. Take a good look at your profile. Do you like it or not? Changing your profile picture all the time is a sign that you worry too much about your Facebook image. If you like it, leave it. If it bothers you, fix it now. Because? Because when you have it fixed, you will have to leave it for a long time. Having a stable profile will build trust in the online environment; not trying to update it continuously will save you time.
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Don't make too frequent status updates. Think "does anyone care what I write?" before doing it. Whenever you change it, it will appear in your friends' news. Why do you feel compelled to announce your every move or mood change? Eventually it won't be interesting to others anymore, and that's another waste of time!
Facebook2_322 - Think about how often you use Facebook applications. To use an application, you must install it on your account. And then use it; and many applications are compelling enough to keep you busy for hours. Before adding an application, ask yourself "Am I doing something productive?" If it's a waste of time, think about your friends who will receive your requests for items, gifts, playing games, etc. Whenever a person receives a game request, they will waste time accepting or ignoring it. Don't become the cause of other people's time wasting. And use the apps you really like; get rid of those that don't make sense or are just pure waste of time.
Step 6. Do not participate in the race who has the most friends
If you are driven to have more friends on Facebook than you can realistically contact, it is important to stop this "friendship addiction". Having such a large number of friends can create anxiety rather than pleasure. Enjoy the friends you have, but delete the ones that add nothing to your Facebook experience.
- Keeping in mind that Facebook almost forces you to add friends, if you have a tendency to define your value based on the amount of friendships rather than their quality, then Facebook can be dangerous for you when you recover from another addiction or go through a moment. psychologically difficult. Resist the temptation to add people you don't know or don't want to interact with, and delete the ones who mean nothing to you from your friends list.
- Pay attention to Facebook's ability to heighten the sense of loneliness rather than lessen it. Spending time on Facebook rather than with real friends will make you feel more alone than you already are, and ironically, the more people you try to follow, the more lonely you will feel, because you have increased the number of friends by decreasing the quality. Don't use Facebook as a substitute for real friendships, but to improve and nurture the ones you already have.
Step 7. Avoid becoming a Facebook automaton
If you find yourself saying "See you on Facebook" or "I'm going to Facebook for a while," it's probably time to take a break to hang out with your real friends or make room for your real life. Whenever you want to say "Talk to you on Facebook", check yourself and say "See you" or "I'll call you" instead. And really think about it - arrange the next meeting right away.
Advice
- To help you quit, keep a journal, either on your computer or, preferably, in a real book. If you feel the need to post a status update, write it in your diary, and then keep writing all your feelings and emotions that would find no place on Facebook. You will get to know yourself better, much deeper than you can on social networks.
- To hide a Facebook application addiction from your friends, click the "Edit" button next to the application on the left side. Click on "Change Settings" and uncheck "Mini Feed". This will hide activity from your friends' news and profile. This method is helpful, but it's not very healthy, because you're not addressing the problem.
- Ironically, some of the professionals who are supposed to help us spot our morbid online activities are also addicted!
