Facebook Reflections

I have not felt as much conviction with any of the lectures as I felt about our class discussion on Facebook. After reading “Is Facebook Making us Lonely?” I had a personal reality check. I began recognize the amount of times I would find myself typing in the forbidden ‘F’ word into my search engine. F-A-C…”stop it, Josh!” I would scream internally. The countless times I had found my thumb hovering over the blue icon with the big white ‘f’. Did I have a problem? Had Facebook become (dare I say it?) an addiction?

Of course this is all very dramatic. Facebook is not a drug, alcohol, or any other activity that if abused can kill you. However, I do believe Facebook can become an addiction. Addiction can be defined as a “persistent and intense involvement with and stress upon a single behavior pattern with a minimization or even exclusion of other behaviors, both personal and interpersonal” (L’Abate, 1992, p. 2). For L’Abate, an addiction does not need to involve a substance. He instead offers that it is a behavior pattern that affects the individuals “personal and interpersonal” life. My “intense involvement” with Facebook had removed me from possible conversations or new/improved relationships. So many times I would find myself checking out my friends new cat instead of talking to the person sitting next to me in class.  

This definition and my personal experience align perfectly with the article “Is Facebook Making us Lonely?” Marche state, “Digital technology” has been “enabling our tendency for isolation” since before Facebook. He continued to explain a study showing individuals who had higher levels of technology use were more likely to have feelings of loneliness. Technology has interfered with potential interpersonal relationship.

This addiction-loneliness complex to social media is a vicious cycle. Let me use Bob to demonstrate my argument. Bob is a bright recent grad from Ball State. He just recently got a job for a marketing firm. However, in his new life, Bob does not have as many friends as he did back when he was a Cardinal. To make up for this, Bob is on Facebook all the time. When he is a work, he is browsing every free minute. When he is on the toilet, his Facebook machine (AKA cell phone) keeps him company. When he is at a bar with his coworkers, he can’t help but check on his friends at other bars by using Facebook. You get what I am saying? Bob, as a young 20-something is more likely to become addicted to social media considering his extraordinarily high use. The addiction to social media gives Bob artificial interpersonal feelings. Bob has come to a point where Facebook is easier to interact with than tangible people. Empirical evidence then proves that Bob’s addiction to these media outlets fuels feelings of loneliness.

Although Bob’s situation is an extreme case, most of us can probably personally relate with his Facebook usage. When I started realizing my nearly obsessive relationship with Facebook, I took some time off. It was weird and hard at first, but it got better. It now feels as though my relationships are more enjoyable when they are face to face or over the phone. Taking a Facebook hiatus hasn’t changed my life dramatically, but it has changed it for the better. Maybe you could try it.

L’Abate, L., (1992). Introduction. In L. L’Abate, G. E. Farrar, & D. A. Serritella (Eds.),

Handbook for differential treatments for addiction. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.