Addiction is a disorder of the brain where a person couldn’t stop themselves from performing certain tasks or showing certain behavior naturally. Addicted people keep on doing certain tasks repeatedly by ignoring the harm of it to their life and health. Because such tasks are considered the most enjoyable and precious to them.
Human addiction can be anything activity such as (Gambling, excessive use of the internet, social media, etc) or material such as (alcohol, tobacco, smoking, drugs, heroin, etc).
And addiction is a continuous process that causes harm not only to the addicted one but also to his surroundings and its people, community, and family. Addiction is also a mental disease that is caused by a mixture of behavior, environment, biology, psychology, etc.
Facebook is regarded as one of the most used, popular, and favored social networking sites that are popular for its information, business, and entertainment stuff.
At present due to the advancement in technology, mobile phones, and other gadgets have become popular among every human resulting in people from an adult, old aged, and even children being addicted to social media sites like Twitter, Tiktok, and Facebook.
The continuous habit or behavior of any person using Facebook without caring for anything like family, work or study, and his/her inability to stop using it is called Facebook addiction.
If a person signs in on Facebook or signs in to messenger for a longer time for work purposes then it’s not Facebooking addiction.
Addicted people get engaged in Facebook uncontrollably and can’t stop themselves from using it seeking the conversion of their moods and ignoring the harm that causes their life.
A person is called Facebook addicted only if he/she is always thinking about Facebook, feels lazy to perform other tasks, wants to sign up for FB every time of their day affects their life and career, and they feel frustrated and sad if they don’t get to use it.
Facebook Addiction: Symptoms & Signs of Facebook offense
There are many factors that cause addiction to Facebook like psychological factors, environmental factors, cultural factors, or biological factors.
psychological factors are the feeling of loneliness, sadness, or rejection by their near ones and he/she searches for happiness and love on the internet, enjoyment of being praised by people and being habituated to that admiration, fear of being backward if they miss any interesting or trending topic, etc.
While cultural factors that encourage people to be updated with facebook are the urge to post information and views related to the religion and cultures, to show off their valuable goods or the place they have recently visited, etc.
Further, the biological component is the age factor of the users as young people are more likely to get addicted to Facebook due to fashion and trends, sex of the user also determines the addiction as women like to show off their content and emotions more in comparison to men, etc.
9 Signs of Facebook Addiction
Due to the ability of this free app to have knowledge of the whole world and to contact the person all around the world, it is loved and utilized by everyone.
And it is not a bad practice to get in contact with the world’s activities and friends and relatives but it can affect and change your life if used and taken as more than normal.
The person who is addicted to Facebook can be easily determined by their change in behavior and life pattern.
There are numerous signs of Facebook addiction that can help to differentiate the addicted person from others so that they can be aware at first.
Here are the signs of Facebook addiction:
1. Overthinking the Facebook Image
One of the signs of Facebook addiction is that the person tends to think about the images of themselves on Facebook more than the necessity.
Though every one of us likes to portray ourselves better in front of others either in physical environments or on online social platforms.
The addicted person is always worried about which photo to upload to Facebook and what caption can he/she write for that particular photo so that they can get more likes and comments appraising them.
These people overthink their status either presenting themselves as emotional, humorous, or chill person and always trying to portray their feelings to their Facebook friends through their statuses and images in their timeline or their 24-hour story.
2. Using Facebook to Forget a Personal Problem
Facebooking addiction in a person can also be discovered if the person is using Facebook to forget about their problem.
These people are always searching for ways to alter their moods if they have fights with their near ones, have problems at their work, etc.
People sign up for Facebook to scroll down their news feed or share memes that could refresh their moods and also sign in to messenger to talk with their friends and forget about their worries.
Addicted people like to use Facebook if they are feeling low instead of spending time with their near ones or sharing their problems with their peer groups or family members.
3. Feeling Uncomfortable Stay off With Facebook
The next strong behavior of the person who is addicted is that he/she cannot stay away from Facebook and if they do so then they cannot focus on their other activities and feel uncomfortable throughout their days.
They use Facebook in their free time and if they don’t have such a period then also they manage to have a look at Facebook updates and notifications either they are in the middle of their work, between conversations with their partner, or during their vacation.
And if they don’t get to exercise this behavior they feel uncomfortable, stressed, annoyed, uneasy, incomplete, etc.
4. The Anxious Feeling While Unable to Access Facebook
If the person feels anxious when they don’t get to access Facebook then it is also a sign of Facebook addiction.
Facebook is their way to start their day, it is the medium to stabilize their moods the whole day, part of their meals, and the best way to end their day.
Thinking about Facebook posts, presenting themselves in front of other people, and being present online every time is the meaning of a better and more satisfying life.
But if they are unable to Use Facebook and be active to see the news feed or post their status update then they feel anxious, impatient, uneasy, tense, worried, etc, and cannot be energetic in their physical life as they are always keen to access the Facebook and improve their mood.
5. Facebook Affects Personal Relationships And Mental Health
Excessive use of Facebook can change a person, his relationships, and also his physical and mental health. You can see the changes in relationship and health in an addicted person because their mind and behavior is fully controlled by Facebook.
If a person is always active on his phone or a computer signing on to Facebook and Messenger then they may not spend quality time with their family and friends, and cannot be present physically at the happy or sad moments of their near ones as are busy presenting themselves virtually.
This activity can harm the relationship of the particular person and they may be far from each other physically and emotionally.
Moreover, uncontrolled use of Facebook in their gadgets harms their eyes and they may not get better sleep as they tend to use Facebook till late at night.
Addicted people get many health issues because extreme use of Facebook can lead to mental issues with less sleep and overthinking Facebook.
6. Spending Lots of Virtual Hours On Facebook
Facebook is a networking site where you can connect with many people all around the world, play games, upload photos, share your opinion, etc which can be a good time pass in your leisure time.
But it is called addiction if you start to spend most of your time checking Facebook, scrolling the timeline, and thinking of Facebook posts every time.
You cannot realize the flow of time while you are enjoying the posts and updates on Facebook.
Spending lots of hours on Facebook can affect your life as you couldn’t get better sleep and your eyes and mind cannot get rest which affects your performance and creates difficulties in focusing on your study or work.
7. Reporting and Commenting on Each Activity of a Facebook Post
Reporting every activity and commenting on every post is also regarded as a sign of Facebook obsession.
The addicted person tends to communicate and reveal every activity they are doing in their life.
From the time they wake up, the place they visit, the food they ate, the person they met, and the place they live in, to the end of the day they like to report on Facebook and inform their friends.
They upload their selfies and post what’s on their mind on their timeline to be active virtually and to make people know their lifestyle.
Generally, most people do so because they are lonely or do not have anything to do and refresh themselves from anxiety or they are obsessed with such practice.
Moreover, another sign of Facebook addiction is that people want to make them remember and be actively bypassing the comments in the comment section of every photo or status update of their friends.
8. Overthinking the Facebook News and Viral Posts
If you are overthinking the news shown on Facebook or the viral posts that are trending on Facebook then it is a sign of Facebook addiction and you need to be aware of such activity.
Spending most of the time signing in to Facebook and scrolling through the news feed can let you be informed about trending topics or viral content.
But if you start thinking about such news every time of your day and start creating a story in your mind related to such popular posts then it must be taken seriously and you must change such imagination and overthinking to prevent yourself from getting addicted.
9. Dating Expectation and Lovemaking Thought
In recent dates, Facebook has also played as a dating app that facilitates chats, audio, and video call, and sharing photos and videos with friends.
People get addicted to Facebook and keep on using it in search of their love and thinking of dating and making love with them.
They devote most of their time imagining to impress their crush by sharing different photographs and statuses dedicating them.
Preventions / Solutions to Facebook Addiction
With the above signs and behavior, you can easily determine if you are addicted to Facebook or not and you can adopt some safety measures to prevent yourself from being addicted.
Addiction not only affects your study or career but also hampers your health, love, and relationships.
So, at some point, you need to leave such behavior of using Facebook excessively and try to focus on the most important things in your life.
The addiction hampers you and your life and it can be solved by only you and your effort.
Below are the solutions to Facebook addictions:
1. Turn off Push Notification
Push notification is a notification that directly appears on your device like a message if you have installed the application on your device.
Turning off the notifications of Facebook can be the starting effort to use Facebook where you can prevent yourself from feeling the urge to see every notification that pops up in your notification bar.
You know it is difficult for the Facebook-addicted person not to sign in to FB if there is a notification waiting for him to open and view.
So by turning off the notification on Facebook, you don’t get the alert for notifications of this app and your unnecessary scrolling hour that can result from viewing notifications on Facebook can be reduced to some extent.
And you can focus on your other work prohibiting yourself from the distraction of the notification sound.
2. Worry About Your Future And Real Life
If you are addicted to Facebook then you tend to forget about real-life problems and don’t care about your career as you are busy in your virtual life worrying about the pictures to upload, status to update, and portraying yourself in front of others.
So another way to overcome the addiction to Facebook can be to forget about virtual life and focus on worrying about real life and your future goal.
Concerning the ways to make present life better and future goals can motivate you to work hard to do better in your study and work and hence helps you to ignore and blur the attention towards Facebook.
The more you are concerned about your future and career, the less you are attracted to using Facebook.
3. Grow Physical Get Together and Meetings
To keep yourself away from Facebook and its virtual world you need to get involved in the physical world.
If you have the habit of adding many friends and joining yourself in different virtual groups then you must stop such activity and get indulged in various physical groups.
You can extend your physical connection with your friends and relatives by conducting get together and meetings with near ones that can improve your relationships and can cut off your connection with Facebook and its virtual friends and groups.
It is far better to grow the connection with a physical group of people and increase your involvement in such groups than joining the virtual groups and involving in them sitting in front of your device.
4. Cut Downtime Checking Facebook
Downtime is the period when you are free from work or it is your leisure time.
It is a common habit of many people to check their phones and scroll through the news feed on apps like Facebook whenever they have time.
Cutting off the time to check Facebook and investing leisure time in productive work can not only solve your Facebook addiction but also makes you productive.
It can be helpful for you if you start reducing the time to use Facebook even if it is your free time.
In your downtime, you can conduct meetings with your loved ones or just spend time with your family and friends or you can complete your assignment work before the deadline than checking the notifications and news on Facebook.
5. Remember Facebook is Not Only Everything
Facebook is just the software that is made to keep you connected with the world and help you to contact different people around the world.
But for some people, Facebook has become more than an app and they forgot about everything around them.
To overcome the addiction to Facebook one has to remember that Facebook is not everything and many factors have more priority in their life.
You have to keep in mind that besides Facebook there is your real life where you have your own family and friends who love you and care about you and also you have the future awaiting you which can be made better only with your effort.
Your health, relationships, and career matter more than Facebook and its world full of virtual friends.
These feelings can motivate you which can solve your addiction to Facebook and lessen its importance of it in your life.
6. Worry About the Future Aim
Future goals are such things that can motivate anyone to do anything beyond their ability of a person.
So worrying about real life, your Aim, your future, missions, dreams, and goals can help you to minimize the use of Facebook and focus on worldly activities.
If you start to worry about your present and future and give your hundred percent energy to accomplish and upgrade your life then your worry about Facebook life can decrease.
7. Try to Stop Commenting on Emotional and Anger Post
Facebook has a feature where you can pass comments on various posts whether it is emotional or angry.
If you comment on heart-touching posts or annoying posts then there is a high chance that you can become addicted to it to express your feelings in every post.
This can increase hours to use Facebook so to avoid Facebook and decrease usage you have to try to stop commenting your thoughts on posts on FB.
8. Study/Work First and Facebook Later
Many people are habituated to Facebook to such an extent that they put Facebook as their first priority and keep their work or study a second and focus on them only if they are lazy to use Facebook.
So you need to first complete your work and study your course and develop the habit to use Facebook only in your free time after completing every task.
Advantages of Using Facebook
Facebook is not a bad app and it doesn’t have any fault but people who overuse it and make themselves addicted to it destroy their health, future, and relationships.
Besides the problems that are created with the use of Facebook, there are a lot of advantages to it.
The advantages of using Facebook are as follows:
1. Getting in touch with Your Family and Family
Facebook is an application that allows its users to get connected with their friends and family.
You can get in touch with them and see their photos, and live videos, and read their status updates easily.
After signing in to the messenger app you can chat, audio call, and video call with everyone all around the world and that is also for free.
2. Grow Your Business and Make Money
Facebook has also become one of the best platforms for an online business where vendors can promote their products and perform sales activities and also they can target their customers based on their products.
In recent days many people have grown their businesses and earned money through the Facebook market.
On FB, they can upload pictures of their products, and the interested ones can directly message them or comment under the picture of the selected goods and can purchase with the seller.
3. Paid Marketing to Outreach and Brand Promotion
Business people can also conduct paid marketing to raise awareness of the brand for its promotion among customers.
It has become common to use Facebook as a marketing platform.
One can create an ad by paying some amount, selecting the right image, text, and video for their campaign, and choosing the targeted audience that is more likely to be your potential customer.
Due to a large number of people on Facebook, your products, or services can outreach to a large group of people.
4. Create Groups to Share Ideas and Information
On Facebook, it is possible to create a group for different purposes and with a selected group of people.
One can make different groups select the people based on the motive of the group where they can share their views, opinions, and information related to various topics.
Groups can be formed for various purposes like creating awareness about the culture and religion, buying and selling goods, raising the voice for justice on behalf of various victims, etc.
5. Work Sharing to Get Feedback and Inspiration
Facebook is not only the place to share your pictures, videos, and status but also people can utilize the feature of sharing Facebook by sharing their work with their friends and receiving positive or negative feedback that can be helpful for improvement and inspiring yourself.
You can share your piece of art and show your capability to numerous people by sharing on Facebook.
6. Post a Job and Find the Right Candidate
Now you don’t need to publish your job vacancy announcement in a newspaper or pamphlets because you can publish such an announcement for free in your Facebook posts where thousands of people can watch it and apply for it.
You can select the right one among them and contact them on Facebook.
7. Find Investor and Fundraisers
Facebook is also a platform where you can search for investors for your business and fundraisers.
You can organize a fundraiser or also you can donate your funds to others.
To get investors or donators for your business you can run the ads on Facebook and interested can apply for it.
8. Finding the Right and Best Deal Products
Sometimes on Facebook, you can find the products at discounted rates or at a low price in comparison with the physical stores and vendors.
Shopping for goods like clothes, food, or electronics on Facebook can be beneficial because you shouldn’t walk through the market in search and can find the right and best deal products just by signing up on Facebook. You can compare products from different vendors before buying at the best price with the help of Facebook.
9. Lead Generating
Generating leads in this competitive environment has become significant to track down potential customers and carry out sales activities.
Facebook has made lead generation tasks easy where you can inform about your products to numerous people in just a few clicks on their devices. You can collect leads from different industries with the use of Facebook form.
Learn, How to design a professional-looking Responsive website yourself.
Conclusion on Facebook and its Addiction
In summary, with all the advantages and disadvantages, Facebook is a king app that can be a good time pass to correct the mood and helps us to connect with people all around the globe.
It is the platform where you can share your happiest moment, sad experiences, achievements, and even failure where you can receive comments, likes, appreciation, sympathy, etc.
It is good to use Facebook and sign in to Messenger to get up to date with the news of the world and for the addiction that has ruined many lives, it is not the fault of Facebook that people are being addicted to it but it is the fault of people who cannot manage the virtual and real life.
It is a well-known fact that too much of anything is not right and even the sugar can taste bitter if consumed more.
So everyone should use Facebook correctly and wisely. Personally, Facebook is helping me to drive lots of leads on my website business.