The first step in dealing with any problem is to admit that you have one in the first place. We are all guilty of wasting time on Facebook every once in a while but for some of us, the problem becomes more serious than others.
If you think about the site when you’re offline, your family and friends are constantly commenting about how much time you spend on Facebook, or you get stressed out when someone ignores a “Friend” request, you might have a problem. But that’s okay.
There are ways to deal with your Facebook addiction and get you back on track. It doesn’t have to consume your time anymore.
Admit that you are addicted to Facebook.
Like we said in the beginning, the first step in dealing with any problem is admitting that you have one. So, even if it feels a little silly, it’s important that you repeat this next sentence out loud:
“I have a Facebook addiction problem.”
Good! Now that you’ve acknowledged the problem exists, you can proceed with beating it. There’s no point in fighting a problem you don’t believe you have. That’s why it’s so important to acknowledge the issue.
Keep a log of how much time you spend on Facebook.
This is probably going to be harder than you think. Write down what time you log-in and what time you log-out every single time you visit your Facebook account. At the end of every day, add up your time.
Doing this will give you an approximate measure of how severe your addiction to Facebook is. After a week, a month, three months, you should see the amount of time you log decline.
Allow yourself a specific amount of time to visit Facebook every day.
Spending time on Facebook isn’t necessarily a bad thing; but that’s only if it is done in the right amounts. If your calculus homework hasn’t been done yet and it’s due in an hour, or your law school assignment has been forgotten because you’re in a poke war with a friend, something has to change.
Instead of trying to quit cold turkey and setting yourself up for failure, give yourself a specific amount of time you are allowed to visit each day. For example, try setting up Facebook time between 7:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. every evening. Nothing more, nothing less.
Turn off your notifications.
Keeping your notifications will be nothing but temptation to get on Facebook outside of your designated time and relapse into your bad habits. Turn off your notifications so they don’t distract you from more important things like work projects and school assignments. Stay focused and you’ll be fine.
Make a list of all the things you used to do before Facebook came along.
You had a life before Facebook, remember? It hasn’t been around that long so it shouldn’t be very hard to come up with a list of things that you used to like to do before your time was consumed with social media.
Once you have your list why not do some of the things you wrote down? This will distract your mind from Facebook, help you break your addiction, and possibly foster healthier habits in the process.
