10 Ways to Tell You’re Addicted to Facebook
Aug 17th, 2010
No social networking site has brought more friends, families and old classmates together more than Facebook. Since its inception in 2004, Facebook has added photo albums, quizzes, newsfeeds, games, status updates, chats and other fun features that make it one of the most entertaining timewasters on Earth. Whether Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg intended for his site to be incredibly addicting or if users have just taken it to the extreme, Facebook users, young and old, have let it run (even ruin) their lives. From constantly signing on to read your wall to late night creeping on friends’ profiles even when you’ve got homework to do, Facebook addiction has become a real concern. If you think you might be one of the 500 million Facebook users, who is living through your Facebook world, check out these 10 ways to tell if you’re addicted:
- You check your Facebook every hour of every day
You know you’ve hit rock bottom when you check your Facebook multiple times during every hour of every day. Whether you’re checking the comments on your wall post or have an ongoing chat with a friend that just can’t wait, checking your Facebook this much should be illegal.
- You can recite wall posts, newsfeeds and friends’ profiles
If you know exactly how many friends you have, what their photo albums are titled and can repeat wall-to-wall posts between other people, you’re clearly a Facebook addict. Not only is reciting Facebook information a sign that you’ve OD’ed, but it also shows that you have spent way too much time perusing your friends’ profiles, also known as “creeping.”
- You check Facebook before anything else
If Facebook is the first thing you look at when you get on the computer every day, consider yourself addicted. Checking Facebook before your e-mail, the news or getting straight to work, is a dangerous habit to start and a surefire waste of time.
- You use Facebook to follow current news
If you sign on to Facebook to find out the results of the presidential election or keep tabs on the Iraqi war, you’ve got a problem. Not only are your “friends” likely feeding you bull, but you are obviously so absorbed in Facebook that you don’t find reading the news yourself a worthwhile activity.
- You are on Facebook during important non-Facebook moments
If you have to hide that you’re looking at Facebook during work, weddings, family reunions and other non-Facebook moments, you probably shouldn’t be on it and may be addicted. There is a time and a place for Facebook, but then again, you’d probably disagree.
- You’ve got carpal tunnel, burning eyes and a hunchback
If your pointer finger aches from clicking through too many photo albums, or your eyes are dry and bloodshot from hours of reading wall posts and chatting on Facebook, you’ve got a problem and then some. Facebook is supposed to be a leisurely activity, not one that makes your body hurt.
- You upload photos before the night is over
Uploading pictures in the midst of a party or vacation you are supposedly enjoying, screams Facebook addict. We know you just want your friends to feel like they’re right there with you, but for goodness sake, give yourself a Facebook break.
- You get mad when Facebook changes the layout
Facebook addicts know the layout and features so well they could navigate through the site with their eyes closed; that is, until it makes its yearly updates. If you’re one of those people that gets mad when Facebook changes the layout or rearranges the features, and you share your frustrations in a status update or letter to Mark Zuckerberg, consider yourself an addict.
- You have played and beat Farmtown, Happy Aquarium, Mafia Wars, etc.
If your life revolves around playing and conquering the many Facebook games, like Sorority House and Farmville, you can consider yourself a Facebook addict. As if Facebook wasn’t addictive enough, their computer games will suck you in and further feed your problem.
- You comment on or “like” everyone’s pictures or posts
If you take the time to go through hundreds of your friends’ pictures and posts and comment or “like” them, you may be addicted to Facebook. By “liking” every picture, (whether you’re in them or not) you are not only saying you have no life, but it’s likely that you’ve wasted a good chunk of your day admiring others’ more eventful lives than your own.
