These days everyone has a Facebook account, be it a kid, adult or older people. And I see no reason why anyone should be deprived of it, as it’s such a nice social networking tool that has helped us to communicate and stay in touch with our loved ones breaking the barrier of distance. But many of us love it so much that they develop a kind of addiction for it, called as Facebook Addiction. They cannot imagine their life without Facebook; they are so addicted to it that most of time they think about their Facebook accounts. They pre-plan their Facebook activities and also give them undue priority over other chores in life.
In the past, Facebook Addiction was a term that was used in humorous way but now a Group of researchers in Norway have proved that Addiction to Facebook is real phenomenon and is very similar to tobacco or alcohol addiction.
Who are at the risk of Addiction?
Now let’s have a look at the fact that which people are at the risk of becoming addicts to Facebook. Doctor of Psychology, Cecilie Schou Andreassen has come to a conclusion that generally younger people are more vulnerable to this addiction. This addiction is also found in the people who are anxious and socially insecure as they find it easier to talk with others online rather than face to face.
The people who are well organised and ambitious tend to be less at the risk from Facebook addiction. They only use social media as a part of work related activities.
Another group of researchers have come to a conclusion that women are more at risk of developing Facebook Addiction.
More about the Research:
In the year 2011, the researchers at the Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen in collaboration with the Bergen Clinics Foundation, Norway started doing a study on 423 students of which 227 were women and 196 were men. Later they developed a scale called “Bergen Facebook Addiction scale” that can be used for finding out if a particular person is suffering from Facebook Addiction or not.
Actually the scale is a simple set of questionnaire about your Facebook related habits and activities. For each answer there are five choices and according to that your Facebook obsession levels are judged.
Take the Facebook Addiction Test:
The Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale stands on six basic and simple criteria, where to answer each criteria you have five options namely: (1) Very rarely, (2) Rarely, (3) Sometimes, (4) Often, and (5) Always
Here you have to answer each question as per the above five options, the questions will be on your Facebook habits and mindsets. Below are the questions:
- You spend a lot of time thinking about Facebook or plan use of Facebook.
- You feel an urge to use Facebook more and more.
- You use Facebook in order to forget about personal problems.
- You have tried to cut down on the use of Facebook without success.
- You become restless or troubled if you are prohibited from using Facebook.
- You use Facebook so much that it has had a negative impact on your job/studies.
Now, after you have answered the above question make a note of the total count of answers where you have selected the option “often” or “always”. If the number comes to be greater than or equal to 4, then you are addicted to Facebook.
As now you have taken the test if you find yourself positive for Facebook addiction then below are some bonus tips that can help you to overcome your Facebook addiction.
Bonus Tip: How to overcome Facebook addiction:
To overcome your obsession for Facebook you can try following tips:
- Accept the problem: The first step to defeat the Facebook obsession is that you admit that you are addicted to Facebook and also realise that you need to kill this addiction.
- Define your goals: Many people join Facebook with some goal, for example if you goal is completing 3000 friends then first try to finish it and after finishing it leave the account like a dead turkey.
- Deactivating your Account: You can also try deactivating the Facebook account to stop the urge to check your account regularly.
- Plan your time table: Make a time table for yourself where you have some realistic deadlines for Facebook time. Then you need to gradually reduce your Facebook time say for each week you can reduce the time you spend on Facebook by 5-10 minutes.
- Give yourself rewards: For each time you use Facebook you less time you can give yourself some reward. The reward can be anything like a chocolate, a 30 min sleep etc.
- Think of some other activities: Think of some other activities that you love to do and when you feel a strong urge to check your Facebook account, get indulged in these activities.
- Consult a Doctor: If you are overly obsessed with Facebook and you are not able to handle you addictions then it’s better to consult a doctor.
Article by Anieee
Anisha holds a Masters Degree in Telecommunications from BITS. She is working as a Software Tester in a top MNC at India. She loves writing, blogging and cracking softwares.
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