Essay on Facebook addiction
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Facebook has become one of the most popular social networks and almost half of its users visit their pages every day. Some users get involved so much that they do not notice how they spend hours on Facebook leaving their businesses undone. Sometimes such people are so immersed into the virtual world that they do not have time for their real friends and family.
Facebook-addiction is equated to drug addiction
Recently psychologists started to talk about new phenomenon, which they called FAD or Facebook Addiction Disorder. This term refers to the psychological state that is determined by and dependent on the time a person spends on Facebook communication. Facebook addict spends so much time on the website that the human healthy life balance is upset. This has negative influence on personality and other sides of social life.
The disorder is characterized by 6 symptoms. People who suffer from FAD have at least 2 or 3 of the Facebook addiction signs during a long period of time, it is about 6-8 months.
Tolerance. Term “tolerance” is used to describe the Facebook addict’s behaviour. An addict starts to spend much more time on the website and eventually comes to the point when it turns into obsessive dependence. An addict feels the need for a permanent presence on Facebook or otherwise there will not be feeling of life satisfaction. One of the signs of this kind of addiction for the close friends or family members, who think they deal with an addict, can be the observation of how many windows are constantly opened on the Facebook site. If they are three or even more it proves that a person really suffers this state.
Withdrawal symptoms. They occur if a person does not have possibility to use Facebbok and has to take part in ordinary everyday life. The symptoms are: irritability, anxiety, feeling of depression and worry, obsession to talk to other people about Facebook, about messages that could have been sent while his absence and so on.
Reduction of normal social / recreational activities. One who suffers from FAD devotes catastrophically less time to personal communication with friends, sport activities and all other kinds of activities he used to do before. Every minute now is spent on Facebook. Actually, the whole life begins to be spent on many hours photos and profiles browsing. An addict will rather prefer not to meet with the friends in café, but to send messages on Facebook. There will be virtual chat instead of celebration dinner. In extremis a person can stop receiving calls from the relatives and friends and demand that everyone should use Facebook to communicate with him.
Virtual dates. No real meetings, just virtual ones. Instead of visiting party, movie etc., Facebook addicts tell their partner what time they will be online.
Fake friends. There is a simple text: if 8 in 10 people on your Facebook page are strangers, you have no idea who they are and you have never seen them in real life, then you can not deny you have serious problems with FAD.
Complete addiction. When meeting new people, right after saying the name, Facebook addicts say their new “friend”: “I will talk to you on Facebook”. Any messages or other requests they get make them feel excitement that reminds the state of gaming addicts during the roulette or poker game. They create Facebook profiles even for their pets.