Six Signs of Facebook Addiction

Parenting.com

by Jeana Lee Tahnk

You wake up from a deep slumber, open your eyes and immediately grab your phone off your nightstand

to check Facebook…Something happens to you and your first instinct is to post it on Facebook. Sound familiar? If so, you may be addicted.

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A research team from the University of Bergen in Norway, led by Cecilie Schou Andreassen, recently conducted a study on how addictive Facebook is and found this to be a growing phenomenon among the millions of Facebook users out there. The results which will be published in Psychological Reports, found that Facebook addiction occurs more regularly among younger users and that women are more at risk for becoming dependent on this social network.

PLUS: Is Your Personal Information at Risk?

People who scored higher on anxiety and insecurity levels, and those who were more disorganized, tended to be more at risk for Facebook addiction as well.

Researchers created this simple test called "The Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale" which measures six criteria on the following 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" on at least four of the statements above, the Scale suggests that you are addicted.

How do you score?