Addicted to Facebook?

By Dr. Audrey Longson | Published February 21^st, 2010, 8:01 AM

There has been a lot of buzz lately about Facebook – it seems as if everyone is using this social networking site. To date, Facebook has more than 300 million active users worldwide, but it is not without controversy, having been banned intermittently in several countries including Syria, China, and Iran. It has also been blocked by many employers to discourage employees from surfing the site on company time. So why all the fuss?

Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Myspace…the list goes on and on. Social networking sites are swiftly gaining popularity and most are easily available at the push of a button. The U.S. Government warns that excessive internet usage is costing the country billions of dollars - productivity at work is dismal because many Americans spend a large chunk of their workday surfing the net.

"Facebook Addiction" is not an actual medical diagnosis and there are no formal statistics on the phenomenon. However, mental health care providers have reported an increase in people who have crossed the line from social networking to social dysfunction.

Please bear in mind, Facebook itself is not the problem, and when used conscientiously it can be a wonderful tool to help users keep in touch with family and friends

Problems arise when family and work obligations begin to take a back seat to Facebook usage. We all know someone who checks Facebook first thing in the morning, multiple times throughout the day, again when they get home from work, and one more time before going to bed.

There are many reasons for this behavior. First, people may find the online world a more enjoyable place to spend time than the real world. Facebook is a fabricated universe of perfection - nothing ever goes wrong, people only present the best aspects of their lives, and everyone wants to be friends. After a long, hard day in the real world, it may seem like the perfect escape. Second, many users may find it easier to interact with people in this context – you choose when to interact and to what extent. No interaction is ever face to face and many pitfalls of real social interaction can be avoided.

What is even more compelling is the possible scientific basis for this occurrence. Internet addiction is very similar to drug and alcohol addiction. The drive to compulsively surf the net is akin to that of other impulse-control disorders – more specifically, the repetitive and irresistible urge to perform a pleasurable act eventually leads to problems. Internet addiction disorder (IAD) was initially coined by Dr. Ivan Goldberg in 1995 and is defined as “a maladaptive pattern of Internet use that can lead to clinically significant impairment or distress”.

Besides Facebook, examples of other IAD triggers include: Chat rooms, Wikipedia, Instant Messaging, Internet pornography, fantasy sports, MySpace, online gambling, eBay and games such as World of Warcraft. As stated previously, the medical community has yet to determine whether this type of addiction is a distinct diagnosis or whether it is a manifestation of other psychological disorders such as depression or obsessive-compulsive disorder.
 
An estimated 5-10 percent of the general population suffers from IAD with men more likely to become addicted to internet based games, cyber pornography, and online gambling while women gravitate towards chat rooms, Instant Messaging, and online shopping/auction.

If you suspect that you or someone you care about might have a problem, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Have you developed an increased tolerance (a need for increased amounts of time on the Internet to feel satisfied and/or Internet use becoming more frequent and/or for longer periods of time than you intended)?
2. Do you lose sleep over your Internet usage (i.e. you stay up late at night using the Internet and feel tired the next day)?
3. Does your work or home life suffer as a result of your Internet usage? In other words, have you given up or reduced important activities because of Internet usage?
4. Do you feel the need to conceal your Internet usage from loved ones or have you continued using despite suspicion of a problem?
5. Have you have tried to decrease Internet usage and find that you are left with persistent cravings or you have had several unsuccessful attempts to cut back on usage?
6.  Do you spend a lot of time talking or thinking about Internet in daily life, even when you are not on the Internet?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you might have a problem. More and more resources are becoming available to assist people with IAD. Facebook alone has more than 200 groups dedicated to self-proclaimed Facebook addicts,  although it would be advisable not to seek assistance for Facebook addiction on Facebook, as the temptation to check status updates or view photos may be too great to resist.
 
In 2005, China opened the first government-based clinic for Internet addiction. The clinic specializes in patients who suffer from anxiety, lack of sleep, and depression due to excessive Internet usage. While US government-based Internet addiction clinics are not the norm, there are many mental health professionals throughout the country trained to provide support to individuals struggling with addiction.
 
Treatments include, but are not limited to, increased physical activity, psychotherapy, improved sleeping patterns/sticking to a sleep schedule, treatment of comorbid psychiatric disorders, and possibly medication (such as antidepressants) under the supervision of a trained psychiatrist.

In extreme cases, it is possible to block certain web sites from your home PC, although it is best to seek professional help in order to assess the severity of your individual case and tailor a treatment plan to your specific needs.

If blocking the offending site is a preferred treatment approach for you, it can be done simply by clicking START on your computer and then selecting RUN. In the RUN box, type notepad c:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts. A little Notepad will appear with computer jargon written on it. Scroll down to the last line of that code and add the following lines at the end of the file:

127.0.0.1 login.facebook.com

127.0.0.1 www.facebook.com

127.0.0.1 blog.facebook.com

127.0.0.1 apps.facebook.com

127.0.0.1 en-gb.facebook.com

Save and close the file and Facebook will never show up on your PC again.

Remember, if you are suffering from Internet Addiction Disorder, there are many resources available to you. You can find a mental health care provider who specializes in treating addictions by asking your primary care provider for a referral, contacting your insurance company and asking for in-network mental health care providers, or on the internet at the following two websites (links to the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association): http://www2.aaap.org/patient-referral-program and  http://locator.apa.org/