Facebook Addiction Disorder (FAD) Michael Fenichel, Ph.D.

It is not difficult to observe the ubiquity of "Internet Addiction" as a phenomenon and/or accepted part of every day life in the Digital Age. Much less mentioned is the even more pervasive "cell phone addiction", "Crackberry addiction", "gaming addiction", or "texting addiction". Are we now at risk of seeing a vast presentation - a cultural commonality - of "Facebook Addiction Disorder"? (Or is sometimes FAD just a fad?) :-)

Some may argue that since these have become just as much a part of daily life as water coolers and word processing programs, these cannot be painted as "addictive" so much as just another daily life tool in the world of the 21st Century. However, just as "newbie" infatuation with the connectedness and immediacy of email and web surfing led to a societal concern about "Internet Addiction" or pathological Internet use, the phenomenon of social networking has left the arena of personal and group networking to a very public and constant arena which allows for strong reinforcement of exhibitionist, voyeuristic, &/or interaction-seeking behavior, often in combination. Add to the instant texting component the ability to post pictures and videos, play poppsychology and pop-culture games and quizzes ("applications"), follow (slightly less closely than Twitter) the every move, decision, feeling, and random thought of everyone in countless networks, and also maintain a homepage/"wall" for all to see and visit, and this is the best possible recipe for significant (behavioral) addiction, as it fills a large and "normal" part of so many lives. Whether it is more of an "addiction" than say ice cream, or "staying connected", or talking, reading, gambling, or excessive online/TV/cellphone activity (to the extent it interferes with other necessary and/or "healthy" behavior), is no doubt individual. But it is only a matter of time before large numbers fall prey to the lures of a 24/7 social network with so many wonderful things to offer, a home among friends and shared applications (aka games, quizzes, personality-types "tests", awards, gifts and various "silly stuff") not to mention sharing laughs and creative feedback via photos, graphics, videos and more.

Need evidence for the pervasiveness of Facebook? If you have a Facebook account, you already know: Real and imagined friends, f2f and online acquaintances, school buddies from the past, ex-spouses, military leaders, even the President of the United States, all appreciate the power of "having a Facebook" presence. (This turns out to be much more so than with Second Life's initial promise, perhaps because of the ease of use and fading of novelty.) The amazing thing is that, like cell phones, nobody seems to notice the vast amount of time and energy - at work, at home, and now

while on the move - people are devoting to Facebook. It has become a given. An article on computer hardware for photographers (Shutterbug, May 2009, p.95) advises, "If you need a PC to access your e-mail and Facebook accounts when you're on the road..." to consider specific small mobile PC's. Commercial television features closing credits inviting viewers to follow-up via Facebook or Twitter. More and more links on web pages invite "sharing" on Facebook or RSS feeds or Twitter. We're all connected, hooray! And for some the opportunities are pure ecstacy, both for the social networking component (which was at the heart of the idea in the first place, albeit targeted at students) and for the games and contests which can be more of a time sponge than any prior computer diversion known to wo/man, such as solitaire or randomly surfing the web.

One of the ironies is that the very people who might otherwise be working with people professionally to treat addictions, social isolation, etc., seem to be themselves among the most active Facebookers. Admittedly drawn from a limited Sample, it is nonetheless overwhelming to see how much time is devoted to things like determining what crayon color one is, or who is the best at Bejeweled Blitz - and these are often mental health professionals who assumedly spend at least some time off of Facebook, and might be able to endure a day (or hour) or two without going through withdrawal. However, many people have so integrated Facebook as a part of normal life - "I wake up in the morning and check Facebook" has overtaken waking up, getting dressed, and finding/checking the cell phone - that it has become as much a part of the (invisible) tapestry of normal daily life as using the telephone or checking email. For better and worse. Like many Internet tools, this can be both an opportunity and challenge, and for many it is easy to strike a perfect blend. Students - who I have recently observed taking "breaks" from homework to take quizzes on what kind of element, lover, animal, serial killer, doctor or rock star one most resembles - have already integrated everything from Facebook to texting to I-phones, AIM, SMS, and Tivo into "normal daily life". But there is seemingly a new "newbie" experience among oldsters who seem to enjoy the same treats which were intended for college students and then co-opted by high school students as well.

As with all potentially "addictive"online activities, people vary in their involvement, some periodically "checking in" to stay in touch, others checking once or twice a day, as a supplement to phone and e-mail checking, and some seemingly spending quite substantial portions of time in activities which might be called creative, self-revealing, competitive, or purely social. Different age groups focus on different important activities, of course, students often sharing woes about assignments or gossip about peers, as well as creative videos and self-affirming photos or quiz results, some adults checking in occasionally or only when notified of incoming messages (to inbox or wall), still others invariably posting multiple messages every day relating to mundane

daily life activities, or quiz results, or feeling states of the moment. One may wonder: Is this happening in the presence of clients? Co-workers? While supposedly conversing online with another person? At the expense of Real Life (RL), or to be more accurate, Non-Online Life?

I have reported on some of the research and theory pertaining to "Internet Addiction", and have (silently) observed what appears to be a commercially-blessed wave of cell-phone and device addiction (as distinct from social networking addiction). But Facebook Addiction Disorder (FAD) appears to me to have the most ingrained and self-reinforcing of all scenarios, reinforcing through immediacy, acclamation, intimacy, shared experience, shared creativity, and the ability to be the complete and total captain of the ship of one's Facebook home page. For some the "apps" seem to be totally compelling, for hours on end, for others Facebook is used more like email, to keep in touch with a group, sometimes serious, sometimes playful, sometimes simply sharing. But the fact of how ingrained Facebook has become culturally is one which is easy to miss, because, well, everybody's doing it! Or so it seems. The irony of who is most pathologically addicted (as opposed to homework, relationship, or work avoidant even without such a seductive companion as Facebook) is that nobody may be left to observe or treat this huge behavioral phenomenon, as everybody is too focused on Walls and apps and networks and finding old & new friends.

When is a friend a friend? When is constant behavior an addiction? Is there such a thing as too much or too little social networking? Who decides? Who asks?

Obviously much of this is rightfully engaging, and also quite healthy. Like most activities, moderation and integration are key. Those that may seriously label and treat FAD as a behavioral addiction will clearly need to use context in determining if a behavior has become demonstrably harmful to overall social, work, or (f2f) interpersonal efficacy. For many people, especially those not already invested in maintaining personal homepages, blogs, photo-sharing collections, IM-ing networks, etc., Facebook offers the perfect menu of opportunity. It may be similar to the proverbial "kid in the candy store" who cannot turn away from every temptation in sight, for hours of time supposedly spent on work, homework, housework, or relationship work, who may have a problem, if not "disorder". It is when one cannot leave the continuous activation/reinforcement of a daily (or hourly or constant) activity that one may surmise it has become a problem. For others, it's a wonderful candy store available whenever one is in the mood for sweets or hanging out with friends online or checking in - without the need to do so on a constant and urgent basis.

Look for the next stage: "How to Tell if You're a Facebook Addict". And then, can it be long before we see specialized treatments for FADs? For Twitter-mania? Pathological Device Devotion? Facebook Addiction Disorder The 6 Symptoms of F.A.D. Comments Share

Okay, I admit it. I am truly addicted to Facebook, said teenage blogger Heidi BarryRodriquez in 2007. In 2009, teen Neeka Salmasi described the social networking giant as being like an addiction. This year, a casino site mentioned that Facebook provides the atmosphere where it is tough to walk away in a direct comparison to gambling addiction. A quick web search and it becomes appallingly evident that we have a problem. Text messaging is no longer the biggest teenage obsession, and long gone are the days where the biggest worries for parents were celebrity crushes, massive phone bills from ridiculously long phone calls and chocolate overloads. These teenage obsessions still exist, but in todays day and age, and in comparison to the Facebook craze, they seem rather insignificant.

Facebook is taking over the world, and thats no exaggeration. Everyone from eagerto-fit-in tweens to educated business people to intrigued grandparents has joined the phenomenon, and unsurprisingly many teenagers have also caught Facebook fever. And like with many of the latest attention-grabbing trends, some teenagers can go a little overboard when participating in them. Perhaps we join Facebook because everyone has an account and, as teenagers, the need to fit in is just too great, or perhaps theres just a special something that has helped the social networking site attract so many million people. Teenagers have a tendency to become obsessive with the in thing and Facebook, the trend of the decade, is no exception; the question is, have we overdone in? And is there really such thing as Facebook addiction?

An American psychologist believes so. In fact, hes even introduced a new term to describe such an addiction. FAD, or Facebook Addiction Disorder, is a condition that is defined by hours spent on Facebook, so much time in fact that the healthy balance of the individuals life is affected. It has been said that approximately 350 million people are suffering from the disorder that is detected through a simple set of six-criteria. People who are victims of the condition must have at least 2-3 of the following criteria during a 6-8 month time period.

Tolerance: This term is used to describe the desperate behavior of a Facebook addict. They spend an increasing amount of time on the site, coming to a stage where they need it in order to obtain satisfaction or on the other extreme, it is having a detrimental affect on them as a person and their life. For the family members and friends who think they are dealing with an addict, a sign to look out for are multiple Facebook windows open. Three or more confirms that they are indeed suffering from this condition. Withdrawal symptoms: These become obvious when one is restricted from using Facebook because they have to participate in normal everyday activities. Common signs are anxiety, distress and the need to talk about Facebook and what might have been posted on their wall in their absence. Reduction of normal social/recreational activities: Someone suffering from FAD will reduce the time spent catching up with friends, playing sport or whatever it is they used to enjoy doing, to simply spend time on Facebook. Instead of catching up with a friend for coffee, they will send a Facebook message. A dinner date will be substituted with a messenger chat. In extreme cases, the person will even stop answering their parents phone calls, instead insisting that they use Facebook to contact them. Virtual dates: It is obvious that things are extreme when real dates are replaced with virtual dates. Instead of going to the movies or out to dinner, they tell their partner to be online at a certain time. Fake friends: If 8 out of 10 people shown on their Facebook page are complete strangers, it is undeniable: they have a serious case of FAD. Complete addiction: When they meet new people, they say their name, followed by Ill talk to you on Facebook, or for those who are extremely bad, Ill see you in Facebook. Their pets have Facebook pages, and any notifications, wall posts, inboxes or friend requests that they receive give them a high, one which can be compared to that gambling addicts get from the pokies or roulette table.

So someone believes that addiction to the net is a real condition that needs to be treated just like any other addiction, with care and caution, but is an obsession with Facebook a real condition, or is FAD really just the latest fad? Either way, Facebook obsessions are definitely present in todays society and whether it is a disorder or not, something needs to be done to fix it. Forget the fancy name and look at the facts. Many people, teenagers in particular, are spending too much time online. Peoples lives are being affected because of the hours spent

looking at profiles and pictures. Facebook, very beneficial in some ways, is having a detrimental affect on the everyday behaviors of people around the world. Having seen the affects of too much time online firsthand, I know this to be true. Nobody can possibly disagree when the facts speak for themselves and when an individuals online life becomes more important than their real one, we know that there is a serious problem that needs to be addressed.

But, what to do about it? How can we possibly fix a problem that has affected more than a third of the worlds population? That is a question I cant answer, but I do know that our parents can play an important role, well, that is if the addicted is still young enough to be influenced by their parents. There are two kinds of parents in my area, both from different ends of the spectrum. On one side we have the Facebook haters, the parents who dont have Facebook, dont understand Facebook and never want to understand Facebook. On the other side, we have the Facebook lovers, those who act more like their teenage children than their parents. Theyve befriended their kids online, participate in their online conversations, comment on their photos and send messages from the lounge room to the bedroom instead of just walking up the hallway and keeping matters that should be kept private, well, private. Dont believe me? I completely understand. It definitely sounds strange. But the truth is I actually know people like this and well I can only conclude one thing: that these parents, in an attempt to be their teens friend rather than their parent, have also been swept up in the Facebook craze and are now suffering from a similar sort of addiction. The apple really does never land far from the tree.

Im not sure what the experts say about the treatment of such conditions, but I do know one thing; like with all mental disorders, there will be no easy fix. I think that to begin with we all need to take a good look at ourselves and our behavior. If youre Facebook time is eating into your social time, or your sport time, or your study time, something has gone seriously wrong. You need to go back and readjust, because to keep a healthy balance is the key to a happy, healthy life. It wont be easy, and it certainly wont happen overnight, but eventually we are going to be forced to fix this Facebook overload and cure the entire world of FAD. One can only hope. Facebook addiction

(Published in Manila Standard Today under the Greenlight Column, January 10, 2011)

I was recently invited by a Communications Arts class of De La Salle University to talk about the ill effects of Facebook among the youth. Ill effects among the youth?, I asked.

I have studied the good, the bad, and the ugly sides of Facebook in the workplace. We always see its good side because most of us are active users. But the dark side in the work place is apparently the decline of productivity based on a number of studies.

But understanding the ill effects among the youth struck me because I have two teenage daughters who spend hours in the veritable social network site; and I oftentimes ask them to stop and instead concentrate on studying. So this topic interested me as I wanted to understand its potential ill effects to my kids.

Surveying Facebook users To put some credence in the talk, I asked the student organizers and my daughter to help me to conduct an exploratory study through a survey among high school and college students. I based the questionnaire on the findings in the collection of research studies called The Facebook Project.

We got fifty respondents from age 16 to 20, and a mix of boys and girls. Not surprisingly, 60 percent of the youngsters spend an hour daily. But interestingly, more than 60 percent have 500 or more friends. This correlation between the time spent on Facebook and the number of friends may lead to a vicious cycle that the more time a youngster spends on Facebook, the more friends he or she accumulates; and the more friends he or she accumulates, the more time is spent on the site.

Another marked finding is the 60 percent of the respondents agreed that they feel good when a friend leaves a comment on their Facebook status. This may be a natural response as seeing friends comment on your status may be a sign of social acceptance.

The trouble with feeling good

But whats worrying is the possible bad effect of feeling good. Its been established in several studies that excessively feeling good about something leads to addition, like in drugs or alcohol. In fact, US psychologists say that excessive use of Facebook leads to a condition called Facebook Addiction Disorder (FAD). Dr. Michael Fenichel, who has published numerous writings on FAD, describes it as a situation in which Facebook usage overtakes daily activities like waking up, getting dressed, using the telephone, or checking e-mail.

There are an estimated 350 million around the world who have admitted to being addicted and more than 500 groups for addicts have been created on Facebook, where members laugh about their dependence on the site.

According to Joanna Lipari, a clinical psychologist at the UCLA who was interviewed by CNN, some of the signs that one is addicted to Facebook include the following:

1. Losing sleep over Facebook When using Facebook becomes a compulsion and you spend entire nights logged on to the site, causing you to become tired the next day. 2. Spending more than an hour a day on Facebook. The average person needs to spend only half an hour on the site, according to Lipari. This is below the one-hour daily usage of the youngsters we surveyed. 4. Ignoring work or studies in favor of Facebook. 5. On the extreme side, being stressed and anxious when one doesnt log into Facebook in a day. This means one already needs help.

Restricting access With the potential bad effects of FAD, many companies and even universities in the US have limited the access to Facebook Many companies locally have restricted access to the social networking site due to its potential effect of productivity. Likewise, schools should be restricting its use within the premises.

But despite its potentially destructive effect, Facebook is still a great way of connecting and maintaining relationships with friends. But like most activities, moderation and controlled use are key. Parents should intervene if they see their kids are getting addicted to Facebook.

How Facebook addiction is damaging your child's brain: A leading neuroscientist's chilling warning

By Baroness Susan Greenfield

Last updated at 1:26 AM on 23rd April 2009

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Can you imagine a world without long-term relationships, where people are unable to understand the consequences of their actions or empathise with one another?

Such conditions would not only hamper our happiness and prosperity - they could threaten our very survival.

Yet this imagined existence isn't as far away as it seems. It is a plausible future. For we are developing an ever deeper dependence on websites such as Facebook, Twitter and Second Life - and these technologies can alter the way our minds work.

We must take this issue of computers seriously because what could be more important than the brains of the next generation?

As a neuroscientist, I am aware of how susceptible our brains are to change - and our environment has changed drastically over the past decade. Most people spend at

least two hours each day in front of a computer, and living this way will result in minds very different from those of past generations.

Our brains are changing in unprecedented ways. We know the human brain is exquisitely sensitive to the outside world - this so-called 'plasticity' is famously illustrated by London taxi drivers who need to remember all the streets of the city, and whose part of the brain related to memory is generally bigger than in the rest of us as a result.

Indeed, one of the most exciting concepts in neuroscience is that all experience leaves its mark on your brain.

More... Police search for girl, 14, who 'ran away with man she met on Bebo' Look out for repetitive strain injuries, Twitter fans are warned Teachers told to 'Google' their own names over cyberbully attacks

But while adults' brains can change, it is children who are most at risk, for their brains are still growing - and may not have yet had a full range of experiences in three dimensions.

Yet 99 per cent of children and young people use the internet, according to an Ofcom study. In 2005, the average time children spent online was 7.1 hours per week. By 2007, it had almost doubled to 13.8 hours. As an expert on the human brain, I am speaking out as I feel we need to protect the young.

Of course, this idea may not be welcomed - when someone first linked smoking and lung cancer, people didn't like that idea; some derided them because they enjoyed

smoking. But parallels could well be drawn with this, and I believe similar precautionary thinking should be set in train, as in turn was needed for sunbathing and carbon emissions. Millions of individuals are signing up for friendship through a screen ______________

We must take this issue of computers seriously because what could be more important than the brains of the next generation?

Three areas of computing are likely to have the most marked effect - social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, imagined online societies such as Second Life, and computer games.

Facebook turned five years old in February. Arguably, it marks a milestone and a highly significant change in our culture - millions of individuals worldwide are signing up for friendship through a screen.

Half of young people aged eight to 17 have their own profile on a social networking site. But two basic, brain-based questions still need to be addressed. First, why are social networking sites growing? Secondly, what features of the young mind, if any, are threatened by them?

In modern life, the appeal of social networking sites to children is easy to understand. As many parents now consider playing outside too dangerous, a child confined to the home can find at the keyboard the kind of freedom of interaction that earlier generations took for granted in the three-dimensional world of the street.

Though to many children screen life is even more appealing. Philip Hodson, a fellow of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, suggests that: 'Building a Facebook profile is one way that individuals can identify themselves, making them feel important and accepted.'

Social networking sites satisfy that basic human need to belong, as well as the ability to experience instant feedback and recognition from someone, somewhere, 24 hours a day.

At the same time, this constant reassurance is coupled with a distancing from the stress of face-to-face, real-life conversation.

Real-life chatting is, after all, far more perilous than in the cyber world as it occurs in real time, with no opportunity to think up clever responses, and it requires a sensitivity to voice tone, body language and even to physical chemicals such as pheromones.

None of these skills is required when chatting on a networking site. In fact, one user told me: 'You become less conscious of the individuals involved (including yourself), less inhibited, less embarrassed and less concerned about how you will be evaluated.'

In other words, Facebook does not require the subtleties of social skill we need in the real world. Not only will this impair individuals' ability to communicate - and build relationships - it could completely change how conversation happens.

Maybe real conversation will give way to sanitised screen dialogues, in much the same way as killing, skinning and butchering an animal to eat has been replaced by the convenience of packages of meat on the supermarket shelf. Social networking sites such as Facebook satisfy that basic human need to belong ______________

Perhaps future generations will recoil with similar horror at the messiness, unpredictability and personal involvement of real-time interaction.

Other aspects of brain development may also be in line for a makeover. One is attention span. If the young brain is exposed to a world of action and reaction, of instant screen images, such rapid interchange-might accustom the brain to operate over such timescales.

It might be helpful to investigate whether the near total submersion of our culture in screen technologies over the past decade might in some way be linked to the threefold increase over this period in prescriptions for Methylphenidate, the drug prescribed for ADHD.

A second difference in the young 21st-century mind might be a marked preference for the here-and-now, where the immediacy of an experience trumps any regard for the consequences. After all, when you play a computer game, everything you do is reversible. You can switch it off or start again. But the idea that actions don't have consequences is a very bad lesson to learn, when in life they always do.

And in games the emphasis is on the thrill of the moment. This type of activity can be compared with the thrill of compulsive gambling.

The third possible change is in empathy. This cannot develop through social networking because we are not aware of how other people are really feeling - we cannot pick up on body language when we are communicating through a screen.

As a result, people could become almost autistic. One teacher wrote to me that she had witnessed a change over the 30 years she had been teaching in the ability of her pupils to understand other people and their emotions.

She pointed out that previously, reading novels had been a good way of learning about how others feel and think.

We should therefore not be surprised that those within the autism spectrum are comfortable in the cyber world. We do not know whether the current increase in

autism is simply due to improved diagnosis of autism, but we must consider whether it can be linked to an increase among people of spending time in screen relationships.

Finally, there is a fourth issue at stake: identity. One 16-year- old summed it up as follows: 'Facebook makes you think about yourself differently when all your private thoughts and feelings can be posted on the internet for all to see. Are we perhaps losing a sense of where we ourselves finish and the outside world begins?'

Perhaps the next generation will define themselves by the responses of others; hence the baffling preoccupation with Twitter, where users post an almost moment-bymoment, flood-of-consciousness account of their thoughts and activities, however banal.

It would be easy to test for physiological proof of the impact of computer games - for example, to see in scans if the frontal area is less active in players. This is the most sophisticated part of the brain which develops latest, so it is less active in children and becomes maximally operational only in our 20s.

Though its functions are many and far from clear, it seems an important feature in humans, whose frontal area is far larger than chimpanzees.

My view is that it works in conjunction with the rest of the brain to enable you to escape from the immediate moment. Are we losing a sense of where we finish and the outside world begins? ______________

People with an underactive pre-frontal cortex (hypofrontal), perhaps because of brain damage, are reckless, easily distracted and have short attention spans.

I am not against computers per se. I use them and appreciate the benefits the internet has brought. Ultimately, I believe that much like traditional sources of instant gratification - sex, drugs, drink - social networking sites tap into the basic brain systems for delivering pleasurable experience.

But these experiences are devoid of long-term significance. I find it incredibly sad that people choose to spend their time and money sitting alone playing games with no consequence and no meaning.

But beyond any frustration I feel is concern about the future our screen culture might create. One extreme situation could be a rise in psychiatric problems and fewer babies born because people can't form three-dimensional relationships.

By the middle of this century, our minds might have become infantilised characterised by short attention spans, an inability to empathise and a shaky sense of identity.

One effect, the fragmentation of our culture, is already occurring: the violent videos posted on YouTube.

Steps must be taken to stop this - to safeguard the mindset of the next generation so that they may realise their potential as adults.

We cannot turn back the clock, but the threat is growing because technology is becoming more seductive and powerful. We must start facing up not only to the impact that computers are having on ourselves and our children - but also to the wider implications their use will have for our society in the future. Facebook Syndrome: 8 Ways to Beat Your Facebook Addiction

Facebook, YouTube, Wikipedia, Twitter, Myspace the list is endless. Millions of us are addicted. The Government tells us that our time wasting internet addictions are costing the country billions of dollars every year. Our productivity at work is dismal because we spend most of the day reading our Fun Wall or checking out our favorite blogs. Can this additive behavior be beaten?

The answer is yes.

In this article I want to give you some simple and concrete ways to beat your time wasting internet addiction. Facebook Syndrome: How to tell if you are an internet addict

Before we start you need to find out if you are an addict. Once you have admitted to yourself that you are addicted to your favorite website we can go about giving you some solutions for that problem. Here are some surefire signs that you are addicted:

1. You are late for meetings because you are on Facebook If you ever late for a meeting or an appointment because you were checking your updates on Facebook or watching a related video on Youtube then you know you are addicted. This is classic addict behavior. It is time to get help.

2. You think about it when you are offline I have several friends who struggle to get to sleep because they are thinking about the latest game or wondering how their website statistics are looking. If you do this then it could be a sign that you are heading towards a problem.

3. Your friends and family comment on your excessive internet use When other people around you start to notice that you have a problem it is generally a pretty accurate indicator that you are losing it. If your mates, coworkers or family members have made comments about how much you use the net then you need to read the rest of this post.

4. You check your accounts from your Blackberry A Blackberry is designed as a business tool. It is supposed to allow you to check your important emails and work materials without having to be in the office. It is not for checking Facebook or Myspace updates while you are having dinner with me. That is

just not on. If you use your Blackberry for monitoring your social media accounts then you need help.

5. You get stressed when a Facebook friend doesnt add you Have you ever noticed yourself getting stressed over something that has happened on Facebook or Myspace? Do you ever feel like your online life is more real than your offline life? If you have been stressed about what rapper you turned out as or what magic egg someone sent you then it is time to open your eyes. How to easily beat time wasting internet addictions

photo credit: Fuschia Foot

Now that you have established that you have a problem you need to get yourself some recovery tools. The strategies and tools that are presented here are some simple ways you can beat the Facebook Syndrome.

1. Admit that you have a problem I want you to take a deep breath and then repeat after me. Seriously, repeat this out a loud even if you are in your office or an internet cafe.

I have an internet addiction problem.

Good. Now that you have acknowledged your problem we can proceed. There is no point in trying to beat an addiction if you do not seriously believe that you have one. This is important.

2. Write down exactly how much time you spend on each site

photo credit: Tokil

This task is more difficult than you might think. Usually we have a work window open, a Facebook window open and then maybe some windows with our favorite blogs waiting for them to update. What you need to do is close the windows and only open them once you have written down the time. Then when you close the window you need to write the time down again. At the end of the day add up how much time you have been on your chosen site and record it in a little book.

The reason it is important to know how long you have been on the sites is because it gives you a solid measure of how bad your addiction is. Recovering gamblers do the same thing. They write down how much money they spend in a day. We need to write down our Facebook hours!

After a few days, weeks and months this number should decrease.

3. Give yourself a set time of the day to visit We need to realize that spending time on these sites is not a bad thing. Done in the right amounts it can be a lot of fun and even quite healthy. However, if you start to notice that your law school assignment is still not done because you have been watching Tom Cruises Scientology rant on Youtube all night then it has gone beyond a joke.

Instead of banning the site altogether why not give yourself a set period of time to visit? For example, you might give yourself the first 20 minutes of the work day you check all your updates and then not log on for the rest of the day. Or you might decide that the last 30 minutes of work is Myspace time as a reward for a long day of super productive work.

Banning your addiction outright often leads to a Facebook relapse. We dont want this. Give yourself some set times to visit and dont break the limits.

4. Turn off email notifications

Email notifications are like little red devils coming to sit on your shoulder and begging you to come back and visit Facebook. Turn them off. You dont need to be notified every time someone sends you a message. If it was that important they should email you or, God forbid, use the telephone. You also dont need to be notified every time someone rates your sexiness, adds a fish to your aquarium or sends you a new bumper sticker!

Turn off email reminders so you can get on with your work.

5. Meditate as soon as the thought arises One of the most powerful ways to beat Facebook Syndrome is to look directly at the tempting thought as soon as it arises in your mind. You do not need to judge it or try to push it out just look at it. The thought might arise as a worrying thought that begs you to check your updates so you dont offend anyone. Or it might appear as a carefree thought saying that one quick look wont hurt. Whatever it arises as the meditation is to just look at it. When you can do that the power of the thought will be drained well and truly.

6. Get off the computer Really do you need to spend that much time on the computer? Honestly ask yourself that. Instead of getting home, pouring a beer and sitting in front of the computer to check your updates you could go for a walk, hit the gym or go and see a movie. There is so much more to do in life than watch your hatching egg grow. Really there is.

7. Write down what you used to do before Facebook Something that can be really useful to do is write down a list of things that you used to do before you got addicted to Facebook or Myspace. For example, some people might write, I used to meet girls.

Try and reconnect with what you used to do before these sites became such a big part of your life. Some of you will be quite surprised at how much you now do not do because you are spending so much time on the internet. You may also notice that around the same time your waistline suddenly got bigger

8. Block the sites the REAL way Your computer allows you to block certain sites. Sure, you can unblock them straight away if you wanted to but the more barriers you put in your way the better. However, if you want to seriously block these sites from your computer you can do it the REAL way:

Click START and then select RUN. In that box type notepad c:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts. A neat little Notepad will appear with a bunch of computer jargon on it. Scroll down to the last line of that code and type 127.0.0.1 facebook.com. After that Facebook will never show up on your PC again. You can substitute the domain for any other domain that you do not want to view. Conclusion on beating Facebook Syndrome

This article is intended as a bit of a joke because I noticed that I was spending a ridiculous amount of time on these sites. The above techniques are techniques I have used to cut back on the time I was wasting. I am sure they will work for you but if you know of any other then please let us know Five clues that you are addicted to Facebook

April 23, 2009|By Elizabeth Cohen CNN Senior Medical Correspondent

One day recently, Cynthia Newton's 12-year-old daughter asked her for help with homework, but Newton didn't want to help her, because she was too busy on Facebook. So her daughter went upstairs to her room and sent an e-mail asking her for help, but Newton didn't see the e-mail, because, well, she was too busy on Facebook.

"I'm an addict. I just get lost in Facebook," Newton said. "My daughter gets so PO'd at me, and really it is kind of pathetic. It's not something I'm particularly proud of. I just get so sucked in."

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Newton (that's not her real name; she's embarrassed by her Facebook use and requested anonymity) says she spends about 20 hours a week on the social networking site, half the time for work -- she runs an online business -- and half just for fun. She's tried to cut down on her Facebook use but failed.

"I can go a whole day without Facebook," she said. "But I've never made it through an entire weekend."

Although there are no statistics on "Facebook addiction" -- it isn't an actual medical diagnosis -- therapists say they're seeing more and more people like Newton who've crossed the line from social networking to social dysfunction.

"Last Friday, I had three clients in my office with Facebook problems," said Paula Pile, a marriage and family therapist in Greensboro, North Carolina. "It's turned into a compulsion -- a compulsion to dissociate from your real world and go live in the Facebook world."

So how do you know when your Facebook use has turned into a compulsion? You can take Pile's "Facebook Compulsion Inventory" to find out.

Pile and the other therapists interviewed for this article were quick to say that Facebook itself isn't the problem and that the vast majority of its 200 million users probably function just fine.

"I'm on it myself," Pile said. "My daughter just got married, and I got great happiness posting her wedding pictures for all my friends to see."

She says problems arise when users ignore family and work obligations because they find the Facebook world a more enjoyable place to spend time than the real world.

Newton says she checks Facebook first thing when she wakes up, and then she checks her Facebook page as many as seven times while at work, and then she'll check Facebook again when she gets home and one more time before she goes to sleep. If you've been keeping count, that's about 10 times a day.

A single parent, Newton includes "Facebook flirting" with men and meeting up with old schoolmates among her favorite activities. Is Facebook addiction is ruining your life? Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012 at 6:15 pm

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