Paranoia

 

There are several symptoms about Facebook Addiction. The first symptom is when a user is afflicted with paranoia. Users start to wonder why their friends haven’t text back (WhittakerFive, 2011). Some users always show their status as “online,” but this does not mean they can immediately respond to their friends, because they may not have their mobile device with them. But if the user starts to expect their friends to respond immediately, this is a sign that they are developing a connection with Facebook, not with their real friend. They are starting to treat Facebook as a person who can provide immediate response.

 

Dangerous level of paranoia could increase depends on how frequent the users manage their Facebook account. The more addicted a person is to Facebook, the more likely he will follow up the responses like a real-life conversation.

 

 

 

Frequency

 

If you spend more than an hour or five hours on Facebook, you might be Facebook addicted. According to WhittakerFive’s article about Facebook addiction, once people start to use Facebook frequently they develop a habitual behavior (WhittakerFive, 2011). They start to think using Facebook is a habit just like their habit to breath in oxygen. This is why they start to spend more time or put more energy on social network than usual.

 

According to Pho M.’s article, when a person is addicted to social network, he checks his Facebook whenever possible, such as checking updates or new posts everytime he doesn’t know what to do. According to Biswajit Das’s article, a survey conducted among 1000 Facebook users in the US found that 56 users check their Facebook at least once a day ("People's addiction to," 2010). This survey also shows that 17 users check their Facebook during sex, and 63 users check it while in toilet. These findings can show that overuse of Facebook is tied with disruption in real-life. Users with the addiction let Facebook interrupt their real life activities without realization. No matter where they are, no matter is during sex, hanging out with friends or in the washroom, they automatically remember to take a picture and put it on Facebook and let their friends know what they are doing.

 

 

 

Confusion of real life and Facebook

 

Once users develop the habitual adaption of Facebook, they find themselves can’t distinguish the difference between chatting online and having real conversation (WhittakerFive, 2011). The updated status or posts are remembered by users as actual memory. Users tend to treat something happened in real life the same as updated status on Facebook.

 

Confusion between real life and the virtual one could lead to problems like over-sharing or over-reporting on Facebook. According to Poh, many users like to share their private or intimate lives on Facebook. This has to do with people’s confusion towards real life and Facebook. If users believe that their real life is the same as sharing real life activities online, they wouldn’t care so much about sharing their private information on Facebook, but in fact there is a difference between real life and the virtual life. On the one hand, it’s less safe to publicize one’s intimate activities online because it expose one’s private life to strangers (Angwin, 2013). This left fewer protections for one’s identity and one’s privacy. According to Julia Angwin’s article, Facebook actually violates social norm and establish “offline” relationship (Angwin, 2013). By offline, Angwin means users cannot control who sees their posts or status, people join their friend’s book group or cooking group without asking their friend’s permission, they just do it. Angwin said this is a form of violation of one’s privacy and it creates trouble for a journalist like him. As a journalist, Angwin needs to protect his sources, but Facebook left him little room to do so.

 

On the other hand, Facebook could never replace our real-life activity. Real life intimacy and conversation both require eye contact, socialize with actual people, and most of all body language, but Facebook provides none of them (Computing Forever, 2011). Facebook could further isolate the users from society because it keeps people away from face-to-face communication or intimate connections. It doesn’t matter how many friends they make on Facebook, they are making friends with Facebook, not with real life people.