Are you addicted to Facebook?

I am sure you all have a Facebook account. We use it for emailing, messaging, sharing pictures, and
more. That sounds pretty reasonable, right? Well, Facebook has a way of creeping from something
useful into a major contributor to carpal tunnel, burning eyes, procrastination, and mindless clicking.

Last night I logged onto my computer thinking to get some pretty cool notes for my exam but I went to
the site not even conscious that I am going to it. I guess I am obsessed with my online world more than
the real world which I belong to.

Facebook is a guilty pleasure that so many of us cannot do without. We may forget all about the
assignments that are due, all the deadlines to be met, or the people we should have conversations with
in real life, but we simply cannot ignore Facebook. Whether it is to carry out the daily ritual of poking
friends, to catch up on the latest gossip within the circle, to take endless quizzes that will miraculously
tell you who your soul mate is, or simply to let your inner farmer take over, Facebook is certainly an
indispensable part of our daily lives.

My friend once quoted “I am wondering why logging onto Facebook has become part of the everyday
routine?.... Do I really have nothing better to do!” Another one said that “Facebook is a tool to keep in
touch with people you don`t want to keep in touch with”

Well the question is are we addicted to facebook? Are personal relationships taking a backseat to
Facebook? Do you think about Facebook even when you’re offline? Do you use Facebook to escape
problems or homework? Do you stay on Facebook longer than intended?

If your answer is yes then you are suffering from FACEBOOK ADDICTION DISORDER

Facebook addict is one who is more obsessed with checking their wall posts, comments, chatting with
people, liking statuses, taking social interview questions, playing farmville, quoting song lyrics, laughing
at inside jokes, putting up pictures of themselves with gang signs, randomly adding people they've never
actually met but have 20 mutual friends, "curiously reading" other people's profiles, or poking people
than actually getting work, homework, or a social life in order to live.

"oh i just want to check my notifications...oh new wall post?....you lost a chicken? oh no....."like"... "LOL
karen, i look fat in this picture take it off! but you look so caauutte"....what was i doing again...?"

"happy birthday!"
"how'd you know it was my birthday?"
"oh FACEBOOK, silly!"
"....what was your name again?"
"JULIE!"
"dude how did julie know my birthday?"
"oh man, she's a complete facebook addict...i'll totally take back the gift i gave to her farmville...

According to Joanna Lipari, a clinical psychologist at the University of California, Los Angeles who was
interviewed for a CNN report, here are some signs that you are addicted to Facebook:

1. You lose 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. You spend more than an hour a day on Facebook. Lipari said it is difficult to define how much is too
much when it comes to Facebook usage, but that an average person need only spend half an hour on
the site.

3. You become obsessed with old loves or exes you reconnect with on Facebook.

4. You ignore work in favor of Facebook. This means you do not do your job in order to sneak time on
Facebook.

5. The thought of getting off Facebook leaves you in cold sweat. If you try going a day without Facebook
and it causes you stress and anxiety, this means you need help.

Facebook addiction is not yet an actual medical diagnosis. But knowing the five signs given by Lipari, you
would know if you have FAD.

As for me, I do not have FAD. I'm just a competitive individual. When someone is higher than me on
Farmville, Country Story and Cafe World (my top 3 games played), I tend to do something to top the
game. And when I reached my goal, time to let go.

Yeah right! Lame excuses! GUILTY! Yes! My name is ABHISHEK BHASKAR, and I am a Facebook Addict!!!
It is what it is! Damn!