Are You Addicted to Facebook?

Recently, when I had time off, I not only took a break from work, I took a break from Facebook, too. For three days, I didn't look at my news feed one time. And I survived!

And then I remembered comments I've heard from friends of mine who've said that they are hooked on Facebook and that's it's nothing for them to spend hours on the social media megasite.

HOURS?!?

So I did some looking and found out that Facebook addiction does exist. It's just a form of Internet addiction. But I submit that any Internet addiction has been exacerbated by the advent of social media.

I can see it. Thankfully, I'm not a part of it.

But, yes, I can see why a person, already inclined to spend hours on end surfing the Internet, might be lured into devoting even more time to a social media site. Hey, Facebook can give you everything, if you want it. Humor, emotion, music, links to movies. It's all there.

But maybe you're also depriving yourself of real one-on-one human interaction, sunlight, fresh air, who knows? I'm sure those things haven't gone out of fashion.

And maybe it's that realization--what am I missing by tethering myself to this computer, smartphone, tablet?--that's caused Facebook to experience a (sudden?) 61% attrition rate. Yep, people are taking a break for weeks at a time.

Maybe seeing the same type of status updates over and over and over again has finally grown tiresome enough and we're all seeking other things to do. I gotta be honest, when I didn't even look at Facebook for those three days, I didn't miss it. And in the past eight days, I've only updated my status one time. I believe it pays to vary our interests. If you haven't taken a Facebook sabbatical, maybe you should see what it's like.