I read this article about Facebook Addiction. It says that psychologists are now probing a new kind of addiction called Facebook Addiction Disorder (FAD). Psychologist Dr. Michael Fenichel, who has published numerous writings on FAD online, describes it as a situation in which Facebook usage “overtakes” daily activities like waking up, getting dressed, using the telephone, or checking e-mail.
I just might have a case of Facebook addiction. But recently, I also have a case of Facebook aversion. It’s my source of information and entertainment but lately, I get more and more annoyed with too much of the useless status and apps updates. I mean, come on, people, do you really need to tell me every minute detail about your life? Seriously? This article about how Facebook can ruin your friendships covers this point brilliantly, stating that amidst all this heightened chatter, we’re not saying much that’s interesting, folks. Rather, we’re breaking a cardinal rule of companionship: Thou Shalt Not Bore Thy Friends.
When I brought this up with a friend recently, she said she was in the same boat but she pointed out that maybe the issue is not so much with “what” but with “who.” That is, we’re not annoyed with the updates but on who makes them; we don’t really mind reading about what our close friend thought about something she watched on TV last night, but when it’s an acquaintance who says it, we think, “who cares?!?” My friend has a point.
I suppose it’s my fault for befriending and accepting 500+ friends, a majority of whom are just mere acquaintances. I have several options at this point:
1. Clean up my friends list. Delete all those I don’t actually care about. Repercussions: What if I want to be in touch with them again someday? What if they still add me back even after I delete them? What if they take my deleting them badly and get mad at me?
2. Hide people and applications from my Facebook timeline. Yes, you can actually do that. Just hover your cursor towards the right of the update and the “hide” button will appear. If you click it, you will have the option to hide the person or the application. Once you click, you’ll no longer see them on your homepage.
note: Caloy is one of my closest friends. I’m just using this as an example but I’m not hiding him!
3. Utilize the “lists” function. Create a list and add only people I actually care about. Click on said list every time I’m on Facebook so that I will only get updates from the people I want to know about and not get overloaded. Yes, you can actually do this. When you’re on your homepage, you’ll see below on the left portion of your page. Click on “create new list” at the bottom. When you’ve chosen the people and saved the list, it will appear on this section. Click on the list and your timeline will only show updates from this list of people. Cool, huh. Aside from people, you can also filter by type of update, like photos or statuses, etc. My favorite is links. It’s my entertainment central.
Know what, I think I’m gonna go with option #3.