Addictions - Cabugnason - Facebook addiction

ADMIT IT, YOU'RE A FACEBOOK ADDICT

Do you spend more time Facebook-ing than studying? Do you sleep less because of Facebook? Do you know what Farm Town, Farm Ville and Pet Society are? If you do, then you are probably a certified Facebook addict.

Facebook is an Internet Social Networking Site similar to Friendster and Multiply. Facebook is the latest and most popular social networking site in the internet. It appeals to multiple age groups and people with a wide range of interests. It now has approximately 300 million users.
Rania Sahibbil, a 2nd year nursing student chooses Facebook or FB as her social networking site. “I am addicted to facebook,” Rania said. She said her friends always ask her about Pet Society, an application in FB. Because of her good scores, friends ask her for advise on how to get high paw points. She revealed that she has to play the application everyday to increase her paw points.

She first heard about Facebook last year when it was not yet very popular. The first thing she did when she had her Facebook account was to add friends. “Exciting,” Rania said. “Feel ko, parang magugustuhan ko ito.”

After a few days, Rania says she was spending 14 hours a day on Facebook. She tries to resist it but finds that she cannot. “I love the fame Pet Society,” she said. “Dahil sa ginawa kong pet na cute and sa mga items doon.”

There are a lot of people like this that they find the facebook world more enjoyable place to spend time than the real world. Probably their main reason why they do this is because they want to escape from the reality that they can’t own this certain thing that they like, and when they find it on the internet, they focus on it and that’s it. They find it happy because at least, they now have the power of owning that certain thing that they like even in a virtual world. Another reason for this can also be about your real friends whom you think doesn’t care for you, a fight with your bf/gf, etcetera. For instance, you are at home, alone, there’s nothing you can do that you get bored or had a bad day because you had a fight with your bf/gf, or you got pissed off with your friends, and that is why you would also escape from it and you try to explore new things on the internet especially in social networking. You chat with your other friends; you go online together and sometimes play together.

However, Owen’s article said that this thing could lead to addiction in social networking. If you are spending so much time on such sites because you are unable to spend a day away from FB although internet social networking is useful, in a way that you can communicate with your other friends or relatives in other country. Going back to the story, Rania says Facebook is the first thing she does when she wakes up and the last thing she does before she goes to sleep. “I wake up at 6AM and I go straight to my computer and log-on to facebook. I get excited every time I check my account because there are a lot of friends requests that needs to be accepted and this makes me happy…” Rania said. “Kasi naman feel ko maganda tingnan ang profile kapag madaming friends.” She added.

Rania knows she is addicted because she loses sleep over it and is tired every morning because of late night friend-ing. She spends more than three hours a day on it. She tried to go a day without Facebook and found herself stressed and out anxious.

She is addicted to the game Pet Society and other games like Farm town and Farm Ville, writing her blog, chatting with her other friends and taking Facebook quizzes.But Rania says she knows all this and is also worried at how much time she spends on Facebook, given that she is a student who has to be responsible with her time. “Ok lang yun. Nagagawa ko pa rin naman ang mga requirements o assignments ko. I just have to check my Facebook account kasi baka may friend request. =)”