Hopelessly Addicted to....Facebook

I have a love-hate relationship with Facebook and Skype (thankfully I’ve thus far managed to steer clear of Twitter, but only because I fear it would consume me altogether). It is my firm belief if they were drugs the government would classify them as class As or, if not deemed quite that dangerous, they would at the very least come with a sizeable health warning.

It would be naïve to label the advent of social networking as the work of the devil, to compare it to all that was great and good in the olden days, when people communicated solely through the medium of carrier pigeon and ladies spent all their spare time (of which there was much) sitting by windows composing poetry and sewing tapestries whilst their sweethearts fought valiant battles and moved heaven and earth to be by their sides. Such advances in technology – and indeed, society – have had their advantages, bringing people across the globe together in a way that previously could never have been imagined…but they have had their disadvantages too.

The concept of being constantly ‘online’ is one that would doubtless have our ancestors turning in their graves. Why is it these days we feel such a pressing need to live out our lives in the public eye, turn ourselves into reality TV stars in our own homes, constantly updating our ‘friends’ (the vast majority of whom we barely even know or don’t even like) on the mundane intricacies of our daily routine? Why this overwhelming need to validate our existence? To discard privacy and ‘virtually’ shout from the rooftops: ‘I’m Here! Look at Me!’ What’s wrong with just coming home from work, kicking off your shoes and curling up with a good book? Why is it suddenly all about turning on the computer to see who’s online, then having it in the background for the rest of the evening, silently taunting you, daring you to check it just once, and then again, and again?

But the worst thing about these sites, to my mind, is the way they affect romantic relationships. Gone are the days when you could split up with someone and never have to see or hear from them again. Now you can’t escape them – everywhere you look they’re tagged, looking happy with their new beau in album after excrutiating album. That one night stand you foolishly saw no harm in adding as a ‘friend’? Even though you couldn’t really care less about them you still find yourself checking their page every now and then, just to see what they’re up to. In fact, before you know it you’re regularly checking half a dozen different people’s pages, just to see what they’re up to. At what point do you cross the line and become an outright stalker? Isn’t that what this kind of obsessive behaviour really is?

I’d be a hypocrite if I said I myself wasn’t hopelessly addicted to checking Facebook (and certain people’s profiles!) countless times a day, but that doesn’t mean I don’t find the trend disturbing. Recently I’ve begun to think about why I’m so addicted, what it says about me and the way I feel about myself and the wider world. I don’t consider myself to be a desperately insecure person, - far from it - and I certainly wouldn’t class myself as a weirdo or a stalker (!), but I’ve got to admit my obsessive behaviour when it comes to these sites would indicate otherwise.

Time, then, for a break. The much talked about but never actioned period of meditation and reflection. Time to read, time to write, time to just…take stock. No Facebook. No Skype. No obsessing about why he/she isn’t contacting me (‘I can see they’re online!’) Could I do it? Loathe as I am to say this, I’m honestly not sure if I could. I think it’s a bit like smoking (another of my addictions), you have to really want to give up before you can be successful at giving up. But just how far down the path of self-destruction do you go before you get to that point?