Brooke Abbott The Facebook Addiction Its mid-class and professor Keefer at Northwest Missouri State stands at the

head of Information Technology class asking questions of his students and getting the sounds of busy typing as his only answer. The classroom is full, but the students are too busy feeding their addiction. From the perspective of the back room its obvious to see that the students are not using their school issued laptops to take notes, theyre scrolling through Facebook updates. Todays society has become increasingly obsessed with the addictive nature of social networking, and nowhere else is this fixation more evident than in a college environment. Students are spending increasing amounts of time browsing their Facebook page, regardless of the ill effects that use of time may bring. From its launch in Feburary 2004, Facebook has grown to be a social phenomenon. As of July 2011 Facebook had over 800 million users around the globe. To put that into perspective it should be considered that the population of all of America is approximately 300 million. A total of 11.4 percent of the world has a Facebook account according to a recent press release by Facebook Inc, and 1.8 million status updates are posted every 20 minutes. Its a huge social media, and its unavoidable, Brianna Moseman, a Mass Media major, said and explained how if people students are not connected to Facebook they feel as if theyre missing out on what is going on around them. Up until my freshman year of college I didn't even have a Facebook until people kept telling me they were making Facebook events for parties or whatever and I had no idea what they were talking about, said Moseman. When surveying students at Northwest Missouri State it was found that 31 percent of students admitted to being on Facebook over five hours a day, with over half commenting that they often will check their page while in class. A question that is now circulating is could this constant need to be logged in be an issue? Its making us more and more dependent on technology, Northwest student John Yardley said explaining how the need to stay connected leaves our smart phones and laptops glued to our sides, its normal to see someone in any group hanging out somehow checking on their notifications. Facebook is my main source of procrastination, former Northwest student Steven Trent said. Students constant need to stay in the loop can interfere with their productivity and accomplishments as well as physical and psychological well-being. Like any addiction it affects your lifestyle. It becomes something you center yourself around. In long terms, sitting at the computer all day you lack exercise so it can lead to increased obesity rates, Kate Kraut, psychology major, said. The way we

communicate with each other on Facebook is different than ever before found in society. It minimizes human interaction in every day life, which will eventually lead to social awkwardness in face to face conversations, said Kraut. Negative effects of this addiction to scrolling through pages of information about the lives of people you know can be made clear when there is a power outage on campus, or if Facebook itself shuts down for any amount of time. When such an event happens on campus, loud complaints are often heard through hallways, even if the site has been unavailable for only a few minutes. Research presented on The Telegraph, a British site for technology news, has found that people from the Internet generation can actually suffer withdrawal symptoms when theyre not able to access their normal email, social media, or frequently visited internet sites. The symptoms that appear can be similar to that of a drug addict stopping the use of a substance. This phenomenon is being labeled as Information Deprivation Disorder and shows just how much of an impact the obsessive use of internet sites like Facebook have on our lives. Students often realize their overuse of the site, but argue the benefits of Facebook outweigh the negative effects. It lets me keep connected to all my friends back home, Marine Eric Schnider said while positioned at base in Hawaii, when I was in Japan I got on as often as I could. Not only does Facebook allow friend to stay connected and share thoughts and ideas, it also serves as a source for new, both local and international. Everyone always posts a big news event as their status as soon as it happens, I always find out stuff on there before I actually hear a news story covering it, Matthew Leimkuehler, 21, said. Plus it helps me network and keep people updated on my band, Leimkuehler said, fans can talk to us and let us know what they want, and we can let people know where show are. It really helps with our following. Facebook provides a variety of different entertainment sources to keep visitors spending time on their site. Visitors can do anything from build and maintain a virtual farm, listen to music and check out videos from various artists, or even see what Hy-Vee has posted for a grocery sale coming up at the end of the week all without leaving the blue and white template. Movies, stores, TV shows, politicians and much much more can be found and liked on this site. It acts a virtual global community. Facebook allows people of different culture to interact and creates a better understanding, Kraut said, in a way it brings us all together. Facebook may be over used but it has become a concrete part of our society. And while class lectures may not be an appropriate time to check what your friend thought of a test score they relieved the other day, its doubtful that the use of Facebook will decrease anytime soon.