Facebook: The New Crack Cocaine?

Media Meditation Number 3

Facebook. Ever heard of it? Of course you have, and so has every other person in the media drenched world. Facebook is the ultimate example of the bandwagon persuasive technique, with over 300 million active users, 50% of which log on at least once a day. There's no question that Facebook, one of "the fastest growing websites on the Internet"(53) and other social networking sites have changed the way that we communicate, but is this change becoming something negative? Are we loosing the honesty and personal connection of face to face conversation and replacing it with typed words read off a computer screen? And, is this new way of communicating hurting peoples lives of helping them? In my opinion, Facebook is the new crack cocaine.

This funny media text targets the limbic brain by using music to examine how we are overloaded with social media. This text also uses plain folks to appeal to the average social media user, as well as humor (seeing that this is a pretty funny song).

Facebook is the ultimate reality construction. Having trouble making friends? No problem, the average Facebook user has 130 online friends (at least), and making new ones is as easy as pressing "Send Request." Talk about a simple solution. Mad at someone, don't want to be their friend anymore? Simply press a little X and voila! They are no longer your friend.

Communication becomes easier when you don't have to physically talk to someone. On Facebook you can send personal messages, write on someones wall, or comment on their activities. It's like your talking to them, but your not.

According to CNN, "Although there are no statistics on "Facebook addiction" -- it isn't an actual medical diagnosis -- therapists say they're seeing more and more people... who've crossed the line from social networking to social dysfunction."

So how do you know when you've changed from casual user to addict? Obviously the individual meaning you glean from Facebook effects weather or not you think your addicted; some people think spending hours a day on Facebook is fine, but some people think that's going overboard. The Daily Mind provides some insight on how to identify the addiction, and beat it. Do you check your Facebook account multiple times a day? How about thinking about Facebook when your not actually online? Miss events, meetings, personal interactions in order to spend more time on Facebook? Yep, you're "addicted."

One "addiction clue" the Daily Mind pointed out is that if you are updating your Facebook account from your Blackberry (nicknamed the Crackberry), then your addicted to FB(Facebook) because Blackberrys are supposed to be used for business, not pleasure. I have a little problem with this one "clue." I know plenty of people with Blackberrys that have no use for them other than updating their FB via mobile phone. They don't only sell Blackberrys (and other smart phones) to professionals, and if you have the capability to see FB on your mobile, why not use it?

So just because you do these things, are you addicted to Facebook? Should you be checking into a social networking rehab? No. "...problems arise when users ignore family and work obligations because they find the Facebook world a more enjoyable place to spend time than the real world."

But lets be honest, Facebook is "more enjoyable" than the real world. You can choose the light people see you in, only posting certain pictures, or controlling the language you speak to other people in. You can determine the degree of access you give someone to your life, by imposing restrictions on profile viewing. You can grow a fruit full farm without lifting a finger (Don't even get me started on Farmville... KIDDIE CRACK). There is a huge emotional transfer involved in using FB. You're basically forging (and sometimes ending) friendships, relationships, and hobbies. It's almost like living real life!

There are also some things you can do on FB, that would be downright weird in the real world. Like, stalking for one. Facebook is a total cultural shift. If you have no profile restrictions, without even being friends with you, someone you can view your profile, monitor your conversations between other friends, and look at your pictures. Facebook also prompts you to read conversations between people that you are friends with by posting them on your homepage.

BBC's "The Wall" featured a hilarious clip highlighting how odd Facebook behavior really is, when enacted in real life.

Think this is ridiculous? Think Facebook addiction is a fallacy created by anti-technology people? Well consider the book, "Facebook Addiction: The Life & Times of Social Networking Addicts."

Another key in the Facebook Addiction story according to Michael Fenichel, Ph.D,

is that "The amazing thing is that, like cell phones, nobody seems to notice the vast amount of time and energy - at work, at home, and now while on the move - people are devoting to Facebook." So to some it may seem normal to check Facebook 60 times a day, but to the person doing it, it is taking over other parts of their life. There is such a slim line between a normal social networking user and an Internet addict, you have to ask "When is a friend a friend? When is constant behavior an addiction? Is there such a thing as too much or too little social networking? Who decides?"

So what does when do if they determine that they are in fact, addicted to Facebook? Join the Facebook group, Facebook Addiction Disorder of course.