Are You Addicted to Facebook?

Do you log on to Facebook the moment you get off from work and check for notifications on your mobile device regularly? Did you subscribe to a data plan just so you could access the social network from your smartphone? And are you one of those people who post status updates about what ate for lunch and get depressed every time someone unfriends you?

If you answered "yes" to at least one of those questions, then you might possibly be a Facebook addict. Hit the jump to find out more about the six warning signs of Facebook addiction!

Here's a quick backgrounder: last January, the faculty of Psychology at the University of Bergen collaborated with the Bergen Clinics Foundation to do a study on Facebook addiction. The result is the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale, which can be used to treat and assess patients and estimate the prevalence of Facebook addiction worldwide.

So are you an addict? Find out by answering the following questions using this scale: (1) Very rarely, (2) Rarely, (3) Sometimes, (4) Often, and (5) Very often.

• You spend a lot of time thinking about Facebook or plan use of Facebook.
• You feel an urge to use Facebook more and more.
• You use Facebook in order to forget about personal problems.
• You have tried to cut down on the use of Facebook without success.
• You become restless or troubled if you are prohibited from using Facebook.
• You use Facebook so much that it has had a negative impact on your job/studies.

If you answered "often" or "very often" to at least four of these statements, then you might just be addicted to Facebook--and it's time for you to fight it.

Article by Hazel Chua
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