Her.meneutics: Addicted…to Facebook

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« Cancer’s Mercies | Main | The Goal in Mind »

October 22, 2009

Addicted…to Facebook

A new study suggests negative consequences from the rising social media use on Christian college campuses.

Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra

Updating their status. Posting pictures. Checking out the news feeds of their friends. It’s all in a day’s work for today’s college students.

One-third of Christian college students spend 1-2 hours a day on Facebook, according to a new study from Gordon College professors. Twelve percent use Facebook for 2-4 hours each day, and 2.8 percent report using it from 4-7 hours a day. This is in addition to the time they spend on other forms of electronic media, such as blogs, Twitter, and the internet. And it doesn’t even count the time they spend texting, talking, or using applications on their cell phones.

More than half of the students reported they were “neglecting important areas of their life” because they were spending too much time online. And when given the definition of addiction as “any behavior you cannot stop, regardless of the consequences,” more than 10 percent said they believed they were in fact addicted to some form of electronic activity.

I teach several classes at a local Christian college, and I’m not surprised. Students text friends under the table during a lecture or class discussion. They post pictures, make plans with friends, begin and end romances on the internet. One student even dropped my class after I told her she wouldn’t be allowed to bring her laptop along.

And I understand. I have my own Facebook account, multiple e-mail addresses, and a cell phone, all of which suck up my time. Controlling the amount of time I spend with social media is difficult for me, and I went to college when e-mail was fairly new. I can’t imagine how much more difficult it is for students who are familiar with even more and better forms of technology.

“It isn’t yet clear whether over-zealous use of computer-based activities will be formally accepted in the U.S. as a distinctive, unique form of addiction,” said Bryan C. Auday, professor of psychology and one of the study’s authors. “What is clear from our study is that a surprisingly high percentage of Christian students who frequently engage in electronic activities report several troubling negative consequences. But ironically they also mention many positive outcomes related to the time that is spent on Facebook or text messaging their friends.”

Last Lent, I joined with many students on my campus in a Facebook fast. For 40 days, I didn’t share how my day was going or check to see what my old college friends were doing for the weekend. Did I notice that I had more time to spend on worthwhile things? Absolutely. I had time to read, to talk to my husband, to play with my son, to read books for fun, to write, to think.

But after Easter, I headed back to Facebook. Call me nosy, but I like being able to follow what my friends are doing, even if those are friends I haven’t seen since high school. I love watching their families and adventures appear in pictures. And I like to be able to share my own experiences in one convenient spot, instead of attaching dozens of pictures to an e-mail.

I’m still searching for a way to limit my time on Facebook without letting go altogether. And according to the Gordon study, Christian college students are, too. They have recognized the potential negative effects that accompany the ease and access of social media and they’re fasting from Facebook, deleting their accounts, avoiding places with internet access, or imposing limits on themselves.

We have to carefully keep ourselves in check as we integrate these new technologies into our lives. So what are some ways we can practice self-control online? And how do we teach that to our children, who will grow up with even more attractive technology than today’s college students?

Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra is a freelance writer based in the Chicago area. Speaking of Facebook, you can become a fan of Her.meneutics.

Comments

I use "social network organizer" called Tweetdeck to monitor FB and Twitter. I keep it running in the background all day and only go over to the actual app when someething that intrests me is posted. Tweetdeck can even sort the posts according to hashtags and search parameters.

Facebook also gives a false sense of connection or "friendship". It goes so much further then a mere colossal time-waster. And outside of college students, I think it's a slippery slope for married people...reconnecting w/ old high school flames, or worse, lovers. What a slippery slope.

Lisa, I disagree that Facebook facilitates a slippery slope. Should we not reconnect with friends at a reunion just because we don't know how to have self control? Facebook may be the connector but it certainly doesn't cause unfaithfulness. Further, it's a mere colossal time-waster if you let it be. It can be a nice way to reconnect with someone if you find out they had a baby or got married. It makes posting pictures, updates, writing easier and only you choose how much time you spend on it.

Hi Sarah, I don't think Facebook causes unfaithfulness. I do think that if a seed of discontentment or unhappiness @ home has been planted then FB, unfortunately, can lend itself to a sad turn of events. I have also spoken to other women who have said, "I can't get off Facebook though I know I should", this b/c of the time wasted. I was on Facebook for 3+ years w/ 100's of "friends". I got off for 3 months, cleared out my "friend" list down to a mere 50, those being my High School classmates from a boarding school in another country, they all still living in that country. And yes, I do enjoy reconnecting with them.

I was just thinking the other day how I miss when you could just run into an old friend at the oddest of times. With social networks like facebook and myspace, those chance encounters are not as memorable. I mean, its nice to see old faces, but when you can't control when you will is sometimes better. When I was a kid, I loathed when my mom would be in a store and saw a friend from high school or college that she hadn't seen in a while, because it meant that high pitched shreek "AAAAAAHH!" (add hug and lots of laughter here!) followed by conversation that always embarrassed us kids when we didn't know how to respond to the "You're getting so big! I remember when you were knee-high!". I love that we are in an innovative computer age. Technology is sent from heaven! But somehow I still miss how God would work mysteriously when you just happened to be at the same place, at the same time as that ex you've always wondered "what if" about, and God brings you two together unexpectantly:) Or when you're out with friends and you see your old college friends and you introduce everyone and catch up. Now you just see how some people use these networks to brag about their lives (or lack there of), while they live miserably behind the forced "I love my life!" status/moods and profile pics. (Not everyone, I know:)) But I feel the more we try to control things, the more we push God and His mysterious ways out. God is creative and all powerful so He still surprises when He's invited to. But I wonder how people would cope if things went back to a time when He was nothing but invited...not to mention how many of us would truly freak if the world lost electricity for 24 hours (and rechargeable batteries didn't work either) :)))

This is two ways to know are you addicted to facebook!
1. You lose sleep over Facebook

"If you're staying up late at night because you're on Facebook, and you're tired the next day, Facebook may be a compulsion for you," Lipari said. "You shouldn't be neglecting yourself because of Facebook."

2. You spend more than an hour a day on Facebook

Pile says it's hard to pinpoint exactly how much is too much time to be spending on social networking.

"I can't imagine that anyone would need more than an hour a day on Facebook, and probably no one needs more than 30 minutes," she said.

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Lisa and Sarah, my wife connected with an old highschool boyfriend on FaceBook and has now asked for a divorce. Yes there are underlaying reasons, but without Facebook, the affair may never have occured. I'm affraid that she will be treated by him the same way he treated her 30 years ago (ues and loose), but by then the damage will have been done. Already my children have lost a large amount of respect for her. Even if she comes to realize that she is not a young teen or twenty something ready to party every night, she will have a major job in restoring her position as a wife and mother.

Facebook in & of itself isn't bad... it's how it's used that could lead to problems. I haven't had the opportunity to meet very many of my husband's relatives, but have gotten to know them some through Facebook.

When I set up my page, I informed my husband of a rule I set for myself: if I "friended" any man that he didn't know, I tell my husband exactly who he is (typically guys I knew in high school or college). Plus, my husband knows he has permission to log into my account at any time & read anything he wants.

I have to say these facebook stories are very true and all I can do is hit my own hand. I am going to let face book go for a while because I see myself loging on two many times a day and I have homework to do and I am on facebook. When you say you have home work and you go to the computer to do your homework and your child comes in and says Mom I thought you were doing home work you know its too much facebook.My husband is afraid I will connect with an old friend and that is really not why I go on facebook but it has caused a mess in my house so I can say I will leave it alone for awhile and just see what happens

FB may be a new technology, but dealing with prevention and healing of technology-based addictions is hardly a new problem. When I was a kid, discussions on the issues of too much TV and Nintendo/Atari were everywhere. For me, the question isn't "how do we integrate new technology?" but rather "how do I interact with the technology I was already using before this new stuff came along?". In my personal experience, technology addictions are rarely limited to one medium (i.e. if you're addicted to FB, you're probably addicted to texting as well), and trying to fight one tech addiction if others are on-going will probably be an unnecessarily frustrating losing battle.

I tried FB for about a year back when it was new, and quickly grew to hate it when I finally caught on that people I was genuinely interested in reconnecting with were not in fact genuinely interested in reconnecting with me - they meant well, but were just caught up the in the FB lie of what it means to be a "friend", and I had too many deep-seated rejection wounds to be able to deal with that. This article is ironic to me in its timing, because last week my husband and I got re-connected with an old college buddy the old-fashioned way - he called us after running into our in-laws at a wedding, learning we live in the same city as him and his wife, and asking the folks for our number instead of our e-mail. And while we already have plans to get together in person, the truth is most of our interactions will probably take place via playing team Halo 3 once a week on Xbox Live with a medium widely stigmatized as being isolationist. We talk in real-time one-on-one or with the whole team via a headphone and mic system, and the fact is that team gaming is a genuine group activity which, when used well, fosters deep relationships like any other group activity. Having fun and being a successful team requires learning and using good communications skills. We're forging new and interesting friendships through our new Halo community, and since you don't need to be playing in order to talk, it's also doubling as a cheap international long-distance plan. I'm loving it.

Of course, different strokes and all that. This system is of no use or benefit to people like my mother-in-law, who is repulsed by the video game medium. FB, on the other hand, is very beneficial for her. She works at a Christian college and supervises a couple of women's dorms, and FB has proven to be a practical, effective, invaluable tool for keeping connected with "her" girls during summer vacation, or after they graduate or leave the school for other reasons. Not that she didn't do this before FB came along, but FB has made it much easier. It's been a real blessing to her and the girls. Like just about everything else, it can be used for good or for ill.

A recent survey showed that the fastest growing demographic on facebook are women over the age of 50. I like a lot of other people my age are starting to lose interest in facebook. Maybe because our parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles are joining, facebook is no longer the cool place to be. I can't wait to see what the next trendy social networking tool will be.