Facebook Addiction

Addiction was a strange word for me because I had never smoked, even a cigarette. So I had never had any recurrent habits.

One day I understood that I was doing something strange! I was in an Internet-related kind of addiction. I was addicted to Facebook and used to log into the site many times a day.

Facebook is one of the best and most attractive virtual communities I have ever been part of. Many applications, well-designed friend-finder section, unlimited information for better users’ privacy are some of its important features. The site’s applications are fantastic and developers are even allowed to create new applications of their own.

The funniest application that I enjoy a lot is sending “Hale Hoole” to your friends!!! “Hale Hoole” is a Persian word that means junk food and some sour fruits. When I received “Flat Fruit” via web, I was really surprised and then I surprised my friends by sending “Gojeh Sabz” to them.

I found another application strange: “Friends For Sale” or “buy and sell your friends as a pet!!!” This application shocked me at first. Selling or buying a human was something like “Slavery” to me. Selling your friend even in cyber space was strange enough, although someone sold my soul in real world for nothing!!!

Over time I realized that some words mean completely different in the cyber space, and it is only for fun, but you can know more about the people you are related to.

When someone buys you, maybe he/she is thinking about the benefit(s) (As in real world that some people try to have a good relationship with others, because they are looking for more benefits!!!). But some others may buy you because they like you. Anyway in my first week of joining I made free all my “pets”. They were cool, but there was no customer for them!!!

One day I was alerted that someone had bought me! WOW, I had an owner and I was not an orphan there! Then I began to buy pets again. (Gee, please forget the regular meaning of pet. Pet is someone that you can buy in this virtual community). After a while, I found another owner, this time my owner was one of my old friends in the real world. Again my first owner bought me and this time I added this person as a friend. I received a letter + acceptance: “Hi Kaveh, Do we know each other?” and I replied “mm, I think that cyber world gives us some chances to know more people, and make friends with them”, Now that person is one of my best friends.

I like some other applications like “Hafez” (Hafez’s poems made one of my darkest nights into glory), Persian Calendar, Birthday Calendar and so on. But still there are too many applications, groups, etc. that I have had no time to view and learn about them.

Let me finish by taking about “Pillow Fight” application which made my childhood memories revive. I used to fight with pillow when I was a little child. Those were the days!

It is hard to believe that I joined Facebook to advertise there. I read an essay about advertisement on Facebook. To advertise there, I had to join. I joined but I had no friend there for six months.

One day a guy sent me his public URL on Facebook and for the first time I added a friend there. Then I became a Facebook Fan.

No addiction happens overnight but it takes many steps. At first, I used to enter this site once a day. Then I was there every time I was free. But after awhile I understood that one of my Firefox tabs was Facebook!

Addiction! The word that I hate!  So, when I understood that I was addicted to this site, I forced myself not to connect to this site when I had an open task. So, these days I go there when I am free with no tasks to do.

Picture 1 has been taken from : http://www.tickyes.com.au/blog/?p=175
By: Kaveh Jamali, Edited by: Vahid Ahmadi owner of www.amoozan.net
I would appreciate it if you could send me your experience with Facebook.