Stop With the Facebook Already
I’m not anti-Facebook by the way. I actually do use it to connect with friends, family members 
and also for my business groups.
What I have noticed though is the strong pull to come back to the site several times throughout the day. I’d post something and then check back half an hour later to see if anyone liked my post. The interval then went down and down until I was permanently on there.
I noticed others seemed compelled to update their status pretty much every other minute. Some were telling me about their cup of tea, who had just called them or who they loved. I am in no way judging but offering my reflections on how this can actually become a compulsion.
Facebook is neutral and a force to be used for fun or otherwise. It is when something become an obsession that you have to take a step back and ask yourself why you are doing it. We all have within us, an inbuilt desire for significance and social media is a massive outlet for this desire.
I see people on holidays with their families posting over ten times per day. As Eckhart Tolle would say, be in the moment. If you with your family the be with them. When you get home then post a few pictures so we can see what you enjoyed and welcome you back. See if you can survive just one day without Tweeting or Facebooking. If you can’t then ask yourself why.
Right, I’m off to tell everyone on Twitter about this article.
Paul Browning
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14 Comments
It seems as if we are all addicted to social networking. I have friends that have a breakdown anytime they are unable to connect to some of these sites.
Don’t pick on Facebook. It is my best friend. Just kidding! However, 90% of my friends are on ‘The Book’.
I know what you mean. Facebook is the only contact that I have with many of my family members. Sad, but true!
I am with you. I get so annoyed when people spend more time texting, or updating statuses rather than be in the moment. I was actually in the park with my son when another mother said, “Smile baby! This one is going straight to Facebook”.
As much as I may deny it, I love the attention I get there when I post something and people start responding. There is also the desire to write something witty or clever in response to someone else’s post. And so the cycle is perpetuated.
I am enjoying your posts, Paul. I appreciate the wisdom, especially in small, manageable doses.
Hi
I have never had a facebook account, never seen the need for it.
Can anyone in here say why I should have one?
What are the benefits will it bring me?
What are the disadvantages of having one other than spending precious time on it?
Any comments welcome, good or bad
Morgan, I am in the same boat. If it wasn’t for Facebook, I wouldn’t have contact with many friends/family members.
Complicated and contradictory attitude towards facebook… The minute I decide to give it up, the next I restart posting on it. The social network is becoming more and more compelling now, if you don’t follow trend you are likely to be forgotten by friends who stays on it the whole day! and most of my friends do…
I just deleted my account it was driving me nuts!! I spent far too much time on it and had started playing games on it as well. It created BS from time to time between friends and collegues as well which I didn’t like, deleting people who had peed me off because they posted things slagging off other people. I felt a huge weight lift off me, amazing. I am free!
LOL – I’ve recently just re-activated my FB profile after been off for a month! i’ve done that twice already – and this time around – it seems much easier staying off it… i find i don’t have that greater urge to log in so often..
when you want to deactivae also – FB gives you so many alternatives – you don’t reallly deactivate permanently.
I think getting rid of all these notifications through the emails does help also! but yes – i must agree – it sometimes is the only way to keep up with family and friends! 🙂
Like some of the other commenters, I also deleted my Facebook account. I thought about all the time that I spent on Facebook (I think it is a little bit addictive), and I decided that my time would be better spent checking the news, or improving my vocabulary, or anything else.
I did use Facebook to keep in touch with my friends and family, but I realized that the people that I care about have my email address, my phone number, etc. I’d rather get a text from my friend than a Facebook message.
I had to get off Facebook because the people at work would post pictures of themselves totally plastered over the weekend, and I could not sit through a meeting with a straight face.
I am one of the many, many people addicted to Facebook. I have tried for the past few weeks to make it a point not to log on more than once a day. Before, I was logging on what seemed like every five minutes! I have realized this is a real problem. I was spending more time on Facebook than with my own family. I think although these sites seem harmless, they are more harmful than one might think. I have a couple of friends who divorced because they met someone else on one of these sites and started an intimate relationship.
Hmm. This post is in the internet marketing category, which I?m reading through all the related posts right now. You don?t do internet marketing per se via Facebook, but many people and businesses have created fan pages for their business or service, and worked hard to increase the number of fans (or friends) connected to them. And linked Facebook comments to Twitter. Then they use Facebook and Twitter to drive traffic to their websites. So that?s my conclusion of the connection to internet marketing.