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Facebook started in Mark Zuckerbergs Harvard University dorm room in 2003, but almost instantly grew to a national craze that is continuing to spread around the world today. It began with Zuckerberg creating a site strictly for Harvard students that allowed them to see each others profiles, pictures, and information so they could socialize better and get to know one another. This was a great idea, considering how large the campus and the student body is at Harvard. Users loved the site and it became very popular throughout the campus. Zuckerberg then started to explore the idea of expanding the site; a few months later, Facebook was available to all Ivy League schools, and also Stanford University. The success amplified and more expansion followed; Zuckerberg made Facebook available to most universities, then high school students, and eventually everyone over the age of 13. With the rapid growth of Facebook, currently at over 500 million users (Fig. 1), come problems that need to be taken care of quickly and efficiently.
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Figure 1: This graph shows the growth of Facebook population up until Jan. 2010
http://www.insidefacebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Facebook400Million-500x347.png
While Facebook is getting all the attention of the social networking world, a major problem that it is causing is being severely overlooked and ignored: Addiction. People that are caught up in the world of Facebook get addicted and most dont even realize it (sickfacebook.com). It begins to preoccupy their lives and everything revolves around Facebook, but these people continue to rationalize and make excuses for their overuse. There are many applications, games, photos of friends, etc. that make it very easy for someone to get addicted to Facebook. Games seem to affect a big portion of addicts; Users get addicted to the games available on Facebook and it becomes the most important part of their day. They even spend money on the online games. Whether its taking care of their virtual fish, harvesting their virtual crops, or serving customers in their virtual restaurants, these games are taking over peoples lives, and are a main source of addiction on Facebook. Facebook stalking is also a major factor in the addiction to this site. This could range from looking at friends, or even strangers, photos for hours on end, or an ex-girlfriend checking up on her ex-boyfriend multiple times a day to find out what hes doing now, who hes dating, etc. Stalking affects many Facebook addicts; however, most of them are blind to their addiction and therefore, do not get any help.
(sickfacebook.com)
Many people believe that Facebook addiction is not an actual problem that we really need to be concerned about fixing. They believe that it is under individual control to stay on Facebook as long or as short as one wants. These people believe that Facebook is a great thing completely, because it allows families and friends to connect and stay in touch, and also find people who they havent heard from in years. They also say that it is a good way for people who are shy and struggle to talk to people to socialize and learn to improve themselves in that area. The main argument that Facebook is not an addiction is that everything on the site is under the users control. The biggest problem is games, but this side of the argument believes that individuals can choose not to play them whenever they want to. Facebook stalking is also an area of concern that is rationalized with self-control. They say that it is a form of entertainment and should not be considered stalking. They put Facebook stalking under the category of self-control as well. However, these problems may not be that simple to solve.
Figure 2: This graph shows the change is a survey from Fall 2008 to Fall 2009, asking how frequently people use social networking sites (Rubel)
It has been proven that Facebook addiction is an actual serious problem. Facebook Addiction Disorder, also known FAD, is a term introduced by psychologists for those who are addicted to facebook and their life is really affected by their uncontrolled activities on Facebook (sickfacebook.com). This is an extremely alarming subject in that this addiction to Facebook has gotten so large that it has been defined as a psychological disorder. However, even though FAD has clearly been defined, addicts still refuse to believe that it is a serious problem. They continue to believe that they do not need any help and that it is still under their control. The denial of this severe problem is a large contributor to the continual growth of addiction. Addiction to Facebook games is arguably the biggest problem in this area. There have been certain instances that I have personally heard of where people pay friends or relatives to take care of their farms or fish on their games on Facebook while they go away on vacation. Also, when Facebook is occasionally down for construction or other reasons, some people who are addicted do not know what to do, and they essentially have a slight mental breakdown because they cant log in and do whatever it is that they need to do on their profiles. Another big reason that people get addicted to Facebook is that humans have a need for belongingness and they try to fulfill this need by adding friends on Facebook and trying to fit in with everybody (Haisha). This is a very unhealthy way of accomplishing this need. People who do this get a false sense of belonging which will lead to more and more addiction. Abraham Maslow, a humanistic psychologist, developed a theory about basic human needs. He identified them as needs for love, affection, and belongingness (Elvin). His theory goes right along with the reasons and causes for Facebook addiction and is a word for word definition of the problem.
Although the problem of Facebook addiction is growing rapidly, there are still solutions that can be implemented to help the situation and fix many of the glooming problems. I have come up with a possible solution that I would like to propose to improve the Facebook addiction situation. I believe that knowledge would be a huge factor in the improvement of this problem. Most people who are addicted, and even people who are not addicted, are simply blind to the growing problem. Many dont know what is going on in the social networking world and I believe that if the word can spread and people could be more educated, it would be a big step in the right direction. That is why I propose a public awareness campaign about Facebook addiction nationwide. It would start with television commercials and advertising all over the internet on Google, Youtube, and other large URLs. After recording the effects of the advertisements, we would move it to a larger scale by making more ads and also moving it more publicly by having live demonstrations in larger US cities and educating people that way. Also, I believe a timer on the Facebook website that records your logged in time each day would be a big help to addicts. They would be able to set a time limit for themselves and slowly improve their situation. I do not believe any of these proposals are unreasonable at all and they would benefit everybody involved. People who are not addicted will not be affected negatively, and these solutions can only help people who are addicted.
Works Cited
Nickson, Christopher. "The History of Social Networking." Digital Trends. DigitalTrends, Inc., 01/21/2009. Web. 26 Sep 2010. .
Elvin, Joe. "Understanding Facebook Addiction." Suite101.com. N.p., 01/06/2010. Web. 26 Sep 2010. .
Rubel, Steve. "43% of Online Americans Addicted to Social Networking." The Steve Rubel Stream. N.p., 06/25/2010. Web. 26 Sep 2010. .
"350 million people are suffering from Facebook Addiction Disorder (FAD)." sickfacebook.com. N.p., 01/28/2010. Web. 24 Oct 2010. .
Haisha, Lisa. "Is your Facebook addiction a sign of lonliness?." huffingtonpost.com. N.p., 04/13/2010. Web. 24 Oct 2010. .
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