So... I think I have a problem. A BIG problem. It's called Facebook. And I just might be addicted to it.
Just two years ago, I was begging and pleading with my parents to let me get a Facebook account. They thought it was "unsafe" and that I would go on it way too much. I finally convinced them that this was certainly not true and it would be "totally fine." I don't think I could have been more wrong.
As soon as I created my account a secret infatuation with the social networking site was sparked. I spent three hours on that first day uploading every picture I've ever taken, and making about a hundred different statuses (before realizing how Facebook worked). Now I check my Facebook at least five thousand times a day, and post comments on about a billion people's walls.
I've given my addiction a name: Facebookitis. So far I have been unsuccessful at finding a cure.
Don't get me wrong, I think Facebook is great. It's a place for me to connect with my friends through videos, pictures and messages online. Which is nice because some of my friends live so far away I can only see them a couple times a year.
But it does tend to be a problem when I cannot stop myself from logging on and checking it every few hours.
I will literally tell myself, "No. You need to finish this project first. NO! DO NOT LOG ONTO THAT COMPUTER! Okay, well maybe just for a few seconds."
Two hours later...
"Wait, it is NOT two in the morning! I was only on for a few minutes! Crap! I still have to do that entire project!"
While some people's drug of choice might be Chipotle or Monster, mine is Facebook. I've thought about deleting my account, but could not bear the thought of losing everything I have put on the site. All of my pictures, videos and online connections with friends are only available through Facebook. It's almost as I have two separate lives: online life and a "real" life. Sometimes I feel like Facebook is going to overrun both.
I don't want to get a bad grade on a test. Nor do I want to turn in a half- completed assignment. And I really don't want to procrastinate and turn in the rough draft of my opinion article about Facebook two days late. I can't help but feel Facebook is partly to blame for my lack of dedication to my school work. Who really wants to sit at a desk writing a boring paper when they could be talking and watching funny videos with their friends on Facebook? I think I personally prefer the latter. And that is where the problem comes in.
I guess the key is to keep a steady balance between your "real" life and your online life, a balance that I have yet to master. After all, Facebook is like a deep fried Twinkie: magical and delicious, but only in moderation.
5 Ways You Are Engaged in an Unhealthy Relationship With Facebook:
- You argue with the police officer when you get a ticket for speeding because you needed to harvest your eggplants on Farmville before they withered.
- When you find out you got an A on a math test, and proceed to search the classroom for the like button.
- You stand up in the middle of the cafeteria and yell, “(Your name) is…. OMG SOOOOOOO EXCITED TO SEE THE NEW TWILIGHT MOVIE!!!!!! LOLOL. ROFLCOPTER.
- You start to wonder why poking random strangers while walking down the school hallway is not socially acceptable.
- Your friend’s mom yells at you for attempting to write on your friend’s bedroom wall.
Photo by T. Wanbaugh