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Facebook Leading Some Folks to Develop "Friendship Addiction"
According to a report by Priory, a British medical journal, Facebook is leading some folks to develop "friendship addiction." David Smallwood, an addiction expert, says that social networking sites (and Facebook in particular) are fueling insecurity and creating an unhealthy obsession with building large friend lists among certain vulnerable groups. Smallwood said that women who get self-esteem from relationships and recovering addicts (drug, alcohol, shopping, etc.) are particularly in danger of getting addicted to social-networks.
In addition to fostering an unhealthy competitive spirit about popularity, social networks may augment feelings of rejection when friend requests are denied. Smallwood said that sites like Facebook are unsuitable for those battling with addiction because of its potentially negative psychological effects. Okay, so the addicts getting addicted to something as addictive as Facebook makes sense, but the report doesn't seem to really offer much that's scientific on why women in particular get addicted. We know plenty of guys who are just as addicted to social-networks (like us, for example).
On the plus side, a recent report has found that social sites can help older people feel less isolated. Social isolation is a major mental health issue for seniors, and researchers believe that sites like Facebook can help reduce feelings of isolation give our elderly an outlet for social interaction. [From: Daily Mail]
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Comments
1
Subscribe to commentsCapriOct 23rd 2008 12:30PM
This silly article has cropped up on at least three different sites this morning.
On another site that posted this article, Smallwood claims that it is women who are addicted. What tosh. As if the Top Friends app and the viral “friending” groups are mostly women.
People I didn’t know have added me to their list on Facebook because we’re in the same group, using the same application or fans of a page. That’s not an addiction, my friend list is microscopic compared to most people, men and women alike, and I’m content with that.
The site is great for staying in touch with family and friends one already has, that’s what I use it for mostly.
FB isn’t a waste of time if you know what you want from it and use it for that purpose. It doesn’t replace what people consider more conventional social activity, that’s pretty obvious with people’s statuses of always going places and hanging out with friends. So there goes that paranoid theory as well. Oh, and it doesn’t enable “creeping”/”stalking” either. FB is just a site that works well or can get misused like anything else and people need to stop treating it as something somehow more influencial and sinister than any other site.