Facebook is probably the largest social networking website and is frequently used by its users. Nearly half of Facebook users use Facebook every day. Also, some users spend so much time on Facebook that they don't realize they've wasted hours and forget the work they need to get done. They even begin to ignore their family and friends who are in the real world.
Although "Facebook addiction" or "Facebook addiction disorder" is a term that has not been accepted by the medical world, the addictive nature of Facebook use is a problem for many users. In addition, psychologists and psychiatrists see symptoms of addiction in their patients.
If you feel that Facebook has become the primary medium for social interaction, sharing, and learning, you may have become addicted to Facebook. However, calm down. This article will not stop you from enjoying Facebook. Instead, this article will help you determine whether the way you use Facebook is addictive or not. In addition, this guide will help you find more constructive ways to socially interact with others on Facebook.
Step
Step 1. Recognize the symptoms of Facebook addiction
Although medical or health professionals cannot yet use "Facebook addiction" or "Facebook addiction disorder" as a diagnosis for your illness, the addictive nature of Facebook use can lead to dysfunctional social interactions and obsessive behavior. The following symptoms indicate that you have an unhealthy Facebook dependency:
- When you wake up, the first thing you do is "check" or "play" Facebook. In addition, you do this at night before going to bed.
- Nothing can excite you or make you feel "empty" without Facebook. The only thing I want to do is spend time on Facebook. It may even prevent you from getting work done or meeting the needs of your family. If not using Facebook causes physical pain, makes you sweat, hurts and wants to get back to Facebook soon, your obsession with Facebook is unhealthy.
- You're having trouble stopping using Facebook for a day. If you are forced to stop using Facebook, you will experience a condition called Facebook withdrawal symptoms. When the symptoms of hoarseness appear, you feel like nothing can grab your attention. In addition, you are also trying to do whatever it takes to be able to reopen Facebook even if it means you have to use someone else's computer or do things that could have a bad effect on yourself and others. The symptoms of hoarseness also make you anxious that you will miss your Facebook friends' updates. These symptoms indicate that your use of Facebook is not healthy.
- Even if you don't use Facebook on a regular basis, repeatedly opening Facebook to just see what other people are sharing in the News Feed indicates that you have compulsive behavior. If you experience this, you must realize yourself that you have fallen asleep with interactions in cyberspace and are starting to forget and ignore things that happen in the real world. Spending more than an hour on Facebook each day will interfere with your efforts to fulfill your obligations in life and can lead to problems of social dysfunction.
- Your life in the real world doesn't run smoothly and Facebook offers an illusory place that looks neat, fun, and easy to live in, different from the life you live every day.
- Getting enough sleep is no longer important to you. Instead, you're trying to stay up all night just to satisfy your urge to open Facebook. You keep convincing yourself that your friends will probably think you no longer care about them if you don't open Facebook regularly.
- Nostalgia shackles you. If Facebook is starting to make you yearn for the past and spend a lot of time reminiscing about past events, this is a sign that you should stop using Facebook immediately. When you open Facebook, you may think of your ex and old friends you haven't seen in a long time. Memories of past friendships and romances may make you wonder what would happen to your life if you made another decision that could change the course of your life. Opening Facebook makes you try to drown out regrets by fantasizing. However, this will only put pressure on you and will not help you deal with the present and the future. Understand that living a life that is happening in the present is very important. This type of nostalgia will do more damage if you can't control what you say when you talk about your relationship with other people. Others may take what you say seriously and some will see it as an act of betrayal or a sign of an affair.
- You have lots of friends on Facebook, but feel very lonely.
Step 2. Try to think about what you are actually doing on Facebook
Instead of opening Facebook and drowning in the life of cyberspace, you should start to consciously determine what benefits you get from using Facebook. Questioning the benefits of using Facebook in life is a good thing to do, especially when you feel you have used Facebook excessively. Reduce the amount of activity you do on Facebook by re-selecting the activities that have the greatest benefit to your life. In addition, when re-selecting activities, take into account and limit the time spent on each activity carried out on Facebook. Log everything you do on Facebook for one week. By logging your activity on Facebook, you can create a plan that will prevent yourself from drowning in cyber life. Buy a small notebook and spend enough time writing notes on your activities on Facebook. Remember not to condone useless activities. Here are some things to keep an eye on:
- If you go to Facebook just to reply to a Poke, see a friend's profile update, write a new note, or see what songs a friend has added to their favorite playlist, it's a sign that you're addicted to trivia. Allowing your addiction to trivia to consume the time you have each day will not bring long-term satisfaction to your life.
- Do you spend time on Facebook without having a definite purpose. You just made a new friend and you want to see the friends he has. You might want to know if he's friends with another of your best friends or what he's been up to on Facebook lately. If you do this often, you're wasting time on Facebook in vain because you don't have a definite purpose when using it. You fall in love with the ease that Facebook offers to connect with other people without realizing that the activities you do on Facebook don't increase your productivity.
- Do you justify using Facebook because you use it in your work? Even someone who uses Facebook for business purposes can be complacent and allow himself to continue to open Facebook even if not for work purposes. It is important that you know when you are entering this transition period and when you should use Facebook for work and social interaction. This is done to limit the amount of time allocated to the use of Facebook, both for work and social interaction. Otherwise, you will justify your habit of keeping Facebook open all the time.
- Are your Facebook friends real friends? You may have never met friends in person that you know from Facebook. How much benefit is derived from maintaining your friendship with him? He might be a nice friend. However, if he rarely provides you with meaningful social interactions, he may be part of the distraction that keeps you spending time on Facebook for no apparent purpose. Instead of getting great benefits from using Facebook, you will only be wasting time interacting socially with such people.
- Is your activity on Facebook, whether for personal or professional use, productive? Be honest with yourself.
Step 3. Decide what Facebook values in your life
Whatever your reasons for using Facebook, boundaries are important and knowing what's valuable and what isn't can help control your bad habits when using Facebook. Using Facebook, you may want to let your family know what activities you do each day. However, the use of Facebook will be difficult to control if the concept of "family" is so broad and blurred that you can't decide for yourself who is part of your real family and who is not. When using Facebook for personal and work purposes, you may find it difficult to break free from the grip of Facebook because for you Facebook is a very valuable thing in life. However, it is important for you to determine the benefits and also the disadvantages of using Facebook for personal and work purposes. When deciding what benefits are derived from using Facebook, consider the following questions:
- Do you enjoy using Facebook? Does the fun you get from Facebook outweigh the fun you get from other activities in your life?
- Do you feel compelled to respond to a Facebook user's comment even though you don't really want to?
- Which areas of Facebook really improve the quality of your personal and professional life? You can make a list of activities on Facebook to know more clearly what you do on Facebook. Plus, it can help you cut down on activities that have a negative impact on your life and stop your addiction to trivia.
Step 4. Try quitting Facebook while you're at an event to see how you deal with it
This article does not recommend that you completely stop using Facebook, unless you decide to do so. However, choosing a special event and deciding not to use Facebook during the event can help you break your Facebook addiction. You can even remind your Facebook friends that an event you're attending is coming up soon. This is done so they don't ask you to open Facebook while the event is in progress. For example, some Facebook users may stop using Facebook for a while while on vacation, attend religious celebrations, such as Ramadan and Christmas, and attend family events, such as weddings or birthday parties. They want to be able to get ready for those events without being bothered by Facebook.
- Any event that has great meaning in your life can help you break your Facebook addiction. If the event is an event related to your faith, family, or something else that is important to you, you will naturally focus your attention on the event and try to ignore other things that are bothering you. By attending the event, you can avoid the things that tempt you to open Facebook and fulfill the promise to yourself that you will not use Facebook during the event. When you stop using Facebook, you can introspect about your addiction to Facebook and think about healthier ways to use Facebook.
- By telling your Facebook friends that you won't be using Facebook for a while, you'll have an excuse not to use Facebook. Of course you don't want to be embarrassed by them if you are caught secretly opening Facebook. Be strong and reassure them that you will keep your word.
Step 5. Create a solution that can help you use Facebook wisely and healthily
While you can stop using Facebook, it's a good idea to try to control yourself when you use Facebook. By using Facebook wisely and healthily, your life will be more productive. In addition, you will gain meaningful social interactions and build constructive communication. Here are some solutions that can be applied to use Facebook in a healthy and careful manner:
- Avoid wasting time on trivial matters. Look at your Facebook profile. Are you satisfied with your Facebook profile or is there something you would like to change? Changing your profile picture repeatedly indicates that you are too concerned about your image on Facebook. If your current profile picture doesn't bother you and others, you don't need to change it. If it bothers you, change the profile picture immediately. You may be wondering why you need to replace it immediately, but it can be done at any time. You should change it immediately because you will be using the profile picture for a long time. By changing your Facebook profile less often, you can present a consistent and mature image of yourself online. This will make it easier for people to trust you. Apart from that, you can also reduce useless Facebook activities.
- Don't make Facebook status too often. Before creating a Facebook status, think about what benefits you and your Facebook friends can get. Every time you create a Facebook status, your friends' News Feed will be filled with your status. Why do you feel compelled to tell people every activity you're currently doing or what mood you're in for a while? People may not be interested in your activities and mood and creating statuses to get their attention will only waste your time.
- Think about how often you use Facebook applications. You must have the app installed on your Facebook account to use it. Many apps are attractively designed to make Facebook users spend hours on end while using them. Before using an app, think about whether it can increase your productivity or not. If the application does not provide any benefits, you should not use it. Every time you use the Facebook app, you may send a link with an invitation to earn points, prizes, or results for certain quizzes to your Facebook friends. Each time your friend accepts an invitation, he or she must accept or ignore it. Don't let your activities on Facebook make other people spend their time without a clear purpose on Facebook. Apps should help increase your productivity, not the other way around. Remove useless apps that waste your time in vain.
Step 6. Don't add too many friends
If you are driven to have a large number of Facebook friends, you may develop an addiction known as "friendship addiction". If you have a lot of friends, you will have a hard time building healthy friendships and interacting socially with them on a regular basis. Therefore, you should stop adding a large number of friends. Having lots of friends can be a source of anxiety rather than pleasure if you can't get to know them better and build an emotional bond with them. Enjoy your interactions on Facebook with close friends you've known on Facebook for a long time. However, it's a good idea to delete friends who don't give you meaningful friendships.
- Facebook offers a variety of features that make it easier for you to add friends. If you value friendships based on the "number" of friends you have rather than the "quality" of friendships, using Facebook can be dangerous for you when you are recovering from addiction or experiencing severe emotional problems. Resist the urge to add friends you don't really know or make yourself uncomfortable. Also, remove friends who don't give you meaningful friendships.
- Instead of expelling the emptiness in your heart, Facebook can create great loneliness in you. Spending time on Facebook instead of hanging out with friends in person can magnify feelings of loneliness you're experiencing. Ironically, the more people you add as friends, the greater the feeling of loneliness you experience because you have lots of people you consider friends, not real friends who provide close friendship. Instead of using Facebook to create fake friendships, you should use it to deepen the friendships you already have. It doesn't matter if you only have a few close friends as long as they accept you for who you are and always support you.
Step 7. Avoid using Facebook in any aspect of your life
If you frequently say "I'll see you on Facebook later," or "I'll be playing Facebook for a while," it means that you need to stop using Facebook for a while and have fun with friends in real life. Every time you want to say "I'll contact you via Facebook, okay", stop for a moment to change your words to "I'll call you when I get home" or "We'll talk again when we meet tomorrow, okay?" This is done so that you meet your friends in person, not just through Facebook. Remember to keep your promise with friends to meet and hang out in person in the real world.
Step 8. Make it harder for you to open Facebook
Ask someone to help you set a password on your computer or laptop so you can't open Facebook. Also, if you really want to stop opening Facebook, you can delete your Facebook account. When you know that you won't be using Facebook again, you can fully enjoy other activities that take place in the real world. You don't have to create a new status every time you visit a new place or upload a photo of the food you want to eat. By quitting Facebook, you won't feel the need to tell people on Facebook what's going on in your life.
Step 9. Convince yourself that you don't have to see the whole News Feed from start to finish
No matter how many Posts you see, Facebook will keep updating your News Feed until you are overwhelmed with the number of Posts appearing in your News Feed. Keep in mind that you don't have to see all the Posts that appear when you open Facebook because not all Posts are important to you. It won't be a problem if you miss some Posts. Focus your attention on Posts that are particularly interesting or from your close friends. To make effective use of Facebook, you need to know whether you're reading a Post because you're genuinely interested in what it's written or because a lot of people have Liked and commented on it. For example, YouTube recommends another video every time you finish watching a video. Before watching a new video, you can determine whether it is worth watching or not. Think for a moment whether you want to watch the video because you are really interested in the content of the video or because YouTube recommended it to you. If you're not really interested in the content, you can skip the video.
Step 10. Make the use of Facebook a non-interesting activity
When you're on Facebook, you can choose which Posts can appear in your News Feed by liking your Facebook Page, joining a Group, and hiding the people who annoy you. By selecting posts that appear in your News Feed, you only receive information that catches your eye and protects your News Feed and Facebook profile from negative Posts. This makes Facebook convenient to visit. However, the comfortable and enjoyable use of Facebook can make you complacent and increase your desire to continue using Facebook. Therefore, try to make the use of Facebook an unpleasant activity. You can do this by unblocking Facebook friends who fill your News Feed with their selfies and melancholic statuses. In addition, to reduce the use of Facebook, instead of reading the latest news through Facebook, we recommend that you visit directly the website that provides the news you like. By visiting the website in person, you can satisfy your desire for information.
Tips
- To hide your addiction to the Facebook application from your friends, click the "Edit" option which is next to the "Applications" list located on the left side of the Facebook page. Click the "Edit Settings" option on each installed application and uncheck the "Mini Feed" option. This will disable (disable) app activity that appears in your friends' News Feed as well as your profile's " Mini-Feed ". This method is especially useful if you frequently use movie quiz apps. Of course hiding your addiction is not a good thing. Thus, you should try to control it.
- To help you control your Facebook addiction, keep a journal online or in a book so you don't have to use a computer to write it. If you feel an irresistible urge to create a new status, you can write down your feelings in a journal. By writing in a journal, you have enough space to pour out all your thoughts and feelings. In addition, if your writing relates to friends or family, you can write down everything from your heart frankly without having to worry that your writing will offend them. Journaling can help you understand yourself better and remind yourself that your image on social media doesn't reflect your true personality.
- Some mental health professionals who are supposed to help people recognize the symptoms of Facebook addiction are even captivated by the appeal of Facebook.
Warning
- If you can't control your addiction, see a psychiatrist or therapist immediately.
- Don't immediately think of addiction as a bad thing and fight it. In some cases, people who are bored may not have a problem with their addiction to Facebook because they feel it's better to have something to do than nothing.
