Comments on: Facebook: Anxiety-Feeding Addiction

By: facebook subscribe hoax

facebook subscribe hoax — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 11:15:00 +0000

Hey there! I’m at work surfing around your blog from my new apple iphone! Just wanted to say I love reading through your blog and look forward to all your posts! Keep up the great work!

By: miss candi

miss candi — Mon, 28 May 2012 07:15:40 +0000

I am such a fan of your writing! Thank you for sharing your ideas, thoughts and guidance about so many relevant topics. I find your writing clear, loving and comprehensive.

I agree with the prior comments that Facebook can be a double edged sword. It surely is a tool, and the user decides how they wish to use it. Whether or not we use it in moderation or tap it like a drug, is personal. Either way, it feeds our innate need to connect with other humans, whatever the medium. It can be the rose, and the thorn.

As a cancer survivor, I was able to use Facebook to inform those closest to me about my illness. I could open up and be very vulnerable about my journey and in turn, received a stream of support that was crucial to my healing. I’m not sure of another forum that I could have created that would have been so accessible and immediate for my loved ones at that point in my life. Facebook was invaluable.

What I’d like to hear more about is the website’s impact on relationships and how to navigate the challenges it can stir in coupledom. In my observation, that’s where people’s anxieties and insecurities are challenged. Consequently, if your relationship is “on” Facebook, and then comes to an end, there is a fishbowl effect to the split. In the history of dating, this is a relatively new concept for us which I feel many people, including myself, stumble around. I met my current partner on Facebook and while certain posts on his page mock my ego from time to time, at the end of the day I know I am in a secure and loving relationship and just remind myself…Facebook is just a website. I’m the one adding meaning to the content I am reading.

By: Emily Kane

Emily Kane — Thu, 17 May 2012 04:16:55 +0000

All of these things are true.

However.

I also agree that facebook is a double edged sword. It is both anxiety-inducing and a lifeline. Five years ago, before its explosion with the general public when it was still sort of a college kid thing, I went through an awful break-up and had moved to be with this dude. It was through the support of my friends that I was able to keep my head on.

And before Facebook, college kids in the 2000s had Live Journal (EXACTLY like in the Social Network – I almost peed my pants during that scene in the film because I had many nights like that in the early 00s). However, looking back, Live Journal was far superior, because it wasn’t everywhere, and because it was able to foster real connections through real (written) communication.

Whatever is The Next Thing after Facebook (and there will be one), it will serve the same purpose and be both good and bad. It might just not have a multi billion dollar IPO.

By: Travis Ehrenstrom

Travis Ehrenstrom — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 04:49:00 +0000

I think Facebook, like anything else, is best when used in moderation. I have found many days where I have easily wasted 3-4 hours updating my status every fifteen seconds just to make sure I’m not “missing” anything. The irony that we need to take Facebook with us everywhere we go has only contributed to this addiction. Now we are plugged in everywhere we go. I think Facebook because of its voyeuristic nature is very much like a drug, that can be addictive if not used properly. People long to belong, and Facebook offers that place for many people. Unfortunately for some, it becomes there only place. Your daughter rocks!

By: Elaine

Elaine — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 01:42:41 +0000

This is true! I’ve done a month long social media fast myself and didn’t realize how often I was checking Facebook until I STOPPED checking it. For the first week, I had this underlying sense of missing something, borderline agitation like I was missing something crucial. It was ridiculous.

After getting done with it, I’ve learned how to manage Facebook better, like quarantining it to once a day. Really helps.

By: Sherri Glebus

Sherri Glebus — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 15:43:14 +0000

There is much truth and wisdom to what you have said, but I find it to be a bit extreme. I have found Facebook to also be a wonderful tool for finding and connecting with my real tribe. For example, I have recently found a soul sister–a valuable friend who found me by contacting me on Facebook. And yes, she has been to my house at least once and called me on the phone many times. I also found my Women’s Circle this way and the women are able to stay connected with one another and continue to process our time together between our gatherings via the Facebook group. I have found long lost friends and family via this modality too. I believe there is a middle ground. There is the dark side of Facebook, that you have related and there are also healthy ways of using it.

By: Rhys

Rhys — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 13:49:51 +0000

While I agree with your general statements about Facebook as an oft-used replacement for real friendships, I have found a very different use for it. As someone who meets new people and often keeps friendships with individuals who live far away from me, or whom I may only see a few times a year, Facebook has become a valuable tool that allows me to remain connected to them when we must go for long periods of time without seeing one another, and also to remain connected to and be reminded of places, which is more difficult over the phone. For example, I live far away from the location of my spiritual community, but can have conversations with the people caring for the land and see images of the places I miss when I’m unable to be there in person.
Every person I have ‘friended’ on Facebook is someone whom I have met and had in-person conversations with. It is absolutely true that many of them I don’t know well, but having some idea of major events going on in their lives means that when we do get to see one another, there’s that much less time spent playing big-events catch-up and that much more time spent just being together.

By: LuAnn

LuAnn — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 21:08:23 +0000

OMG, this is so true. I just never could find the right word/s to express the idea.