Am I a Facebook addict?
I’ve had a smart phone for two years. It’s useful for a mom like me, who works mostly from home, because I can check my e-mail in the carpool line or at the grocery store. But I also tend to text a lot and occasionally check Facebook. If I hear a text come in, I have a hard time ignoring it — even if we are in the middle of dinner.
And Facebook can be a big distraction when I’m on my laptop. I easily get sucked into scrolling through status updates for who knows how long. There are also times that my husband and I are sitting in the same room but communicating very little because we are both on Facebook. It’s not very social. It’s not a great relationship builder.
The good news is, I can live without it. Days will go by when I don’t check Facebook at all, so I don’t think I’m addicted to it. And while I couldn’t leave home without my phone, if I leave it out of earshot when I am at home, I can easily forget about it and any texts that might be coming in. I hope that’s a good sign.
If you are worried that you might have a social media addiction, I feel your pain. I know I would have been right there with you when my kids were tots. If you want to know the warning signs, check out our story. There are also nine steps for breaking your dependence. My favorite step is “Get a life” which basically means find more productive things to do with your time. Every now and then, when I’m totally wasting time on Facebook, I tell myself that. Because the truth is, I have a life and a busy one at that. And perhaps it might not seem quite so hectic if I didn’t waste so much time on Facebook, finding out how my 469 “friends” are living theirs.
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FranklyStein is a blog by Chesapeake Family Magazine editor Betsy Stein who lives in Catonsville with her husband, Chris, and four children, Maggie, 14, Lilly, 12, Adam, 12, and Jonah, 8.
