When we talk about social networking, Facebook - with a subscriber base of approximately 500 million users, is the top social networking site in the world. It is believed that half of its users (which amounts to around 250 million people) log on to their Facebook account every single day without failing. Going through the statistics on how much time people spend on Facebook or how often people check their account, you can't help but notice that Facebook addiction has gone way beyond a simple obsession. Before we get into the details of the newly coined non-medical term Facebook Addiction Disorder, let's go through some startling facts and statistics about the use of this social networking website.

Facebook Addiction Statistics

The available statistics on Facebook addiction reveal that an average user spends around one hour on Facebook every day. Even though spending roughly an hour or so on Facebook doesn't really amount to addiction, the way this practice affects their actual life does amount to it. A recent study conducted by Oxygen Media and Lightspeed Research revealed that one-third of women in the age group of 18-34 check Facebook in the morning, even before they brush their teeth. Around 21 percent of the 1,605 surveyed for this study admitted that they wake up in the middle of the night to check Facebook. The fact that a large chunk of Facebook users belong to the 35+ age groups is no less surprising. Such is the craze of this social networking website that people nowadays seem to prefer instant messaging over face-to-face conversation. More than 100 million users access Facebook through their cell phones. These Facebook users are twice more active as compared to those who use their personal computers for the same. If the time spent on Facebook by the entire world is taken it consideration, it adds up to a whopping 6 billion minutes a day. Whether this is time spent or time wasted is a question that needs to be given a serious thought.

Facebook Addiction Disorder (FAD)

Facebook, and other such social networking websites, are meant to help stay in touch with friends, make new friends, play games, plan events, send virtual gifts, adopt virtual pets and do other such online activities. While all these activities are enjoyable, at times you get so used to them that you forget that you have an actual life to live. When you forget this fact and start spending more time online, thus neglecting yourself as well as people around you, it means you are suffering from Facebook addiction disorder. Even though this is no medical term, going by the current trends it wouldn't be surprising to see it being included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders some time soon.

Facebook Addiction Symptoms
You wake up early in the morning and first thing you do is log onto your Facebook account to check what transpired when you were fast asleep at night. This may seem to be a coincident - but that's exactly what you did last night before you went to sleep! The fact is that this is no coincident, but a sign that you are probably suffering from Facebook addiction disorder. Given below are 10 symptoms of Facebook addiction which will help you figure out whether you are really addicted to Facebook, which, one can safely say is a whole step ahead of even the signs of Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD).

• You wake up in the morning, and first thing you do is log onto your Facebook account.
• You spend more than an hour on Facebook - at a stretch or in short episodes over regular intervals.
• You and your siblings converse through Facebook wall and messages, even though you stay in same house.
• You can't seem to stop thinking about Facebook updates and comments when you are offline.
• You check Facebook for updates and comments after every hour at your workstation or on your cell phone.
• You look forward to get home in the evening so that you can see what is happening in cyberspace (on Facebook to be precise.)
• Your Facebook wall is full of status updates, comments, and applications that you just used.
• You can't go for a day without using Facebook, and even this thought makes you go into sort of depression.
• You give priority to Facebook over your commitments in professional and personal life.
• And lastly, your day ends with you checking Facebook for that one last time and bidding people 'good nite' through your Facebook status update. (You may even get an urge to wake up at middle of the night to see whether anyone has commented on your 'gud nite' status.)

If you have been indulging in any of the aforementioned activities frequently, it means you are suffering from Facebook addiction disorder (or at least you are vulnerable to it.) Even though it may seem harmless to get involved in virtual life, it has the tendency to result in some serious consequences on your mental health as well as social life, and thus you need to get rid of it as soon as possible.

Facebook Addiction Help
So how do you get rid of your Facebook addiction? The foremost thing to do is to admit that you are suffering from it and understand that it can affect your life. Only when you are convinced of these two facts, you will be able to make any headway towards your Facebook de-addiction resolve. The next step will be to decide how much time you would want to spend on Facebook everyday - the lesser time you spend better it is for you. At the same time you should try giving up Facebook for other events and activities. Spending more time with your family and friends, instead of being glued to your personal computer in your room, will be of great help in your de-addiction drive. Depending on since how long you have been using Facebook, you will have this urge to check it every once in a while - when you are in the office, before you go to sleep, early in the morning etc. You will have to make sure that you don't fall prey to any such urges. Simply put, you need to treat Facebook-ing as a pastime activity rather than a necessity, and you will be able to get rid of this addiction within a few days.

That was all you needed to know about Facebook addiction - with special emphasis on its symptoms and some tips to get rid of the same. Remember that Facebook addiction is just a facet of Internet addiction which can go much beyond Facebook. Basically, Internet addiction is a broad concept which encompasses addiction of social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, MySpace, etc., as well as addiction of online dating, video sharing, blogging and random surfing. Getting involved in the virtual world is not a bad thing, but getting involved to an extent wherein you ignore your personal and professional commitments surely is.