Facebook Addiction Disorder (FAD) and the Student


Md. Anwarul Kabir

Few years back, based on the stateless globalised technology Internet the biggest virtual social network Facebook has initiated. Due to this innovation the lifestyle of the people on the globe is gradually changing. In the western world, specifically where easy access to the Internet has been ensured, many people prefer to take part in virtual interaction rather than real world.

No doubt, apparently facebook has rendered us many positive aspects of social interaction, although virtually. It enables us to find friends, old or new one, schedule event, play events and send virtual gifts. It also provides us with an excellent way to keep close touch with friends, kith and kin for ever, irrespective of their geographical whereabouts. Yet, like other technology, facebook has got its adverse impact too. Recently the Daily star has published a news item based on an empirical survey in Melbourne. According to the survey, popular social networking websites such as Facebook are having a distracting effect on school children and their studies. The poll, headed by Oxygen Factory, discovered that nearly 80 per cent of students, aged 11 to 18 said social networking sites were a distraction from their studies. As many as 75 per cent said they went online to check their web profiles at least once a day, while more than half felt they spent too much time on the sites. This is not the scenario in Melbourne only, in fact in all developed countries students are often distracted from their studies due to facebook and similar types of social networking systems ( e.g. myspace) over the Internet.

In the context of the averse impact of facebook, eminent social thinker Tom Hogkinson in an article in the Guardians lamented, “ I despise Facebook. This enormously successful American business describes itself as "a social utility that connects you with the people around you". But hang on. Why on God's earth would I need a computer to connect with the people around me? Why should my relationships be mediated through the imagination of a bunch of supergeeks in California? What was wrong with the pub? And does Facebook really connect people? Doesn't it rather disconnect us, since instead of doing something enjoyable such as talking and eating and dancing and drinking with my friends, I am merely sending them little ungrammatical notes and amusing photos in cyberspace, while chained to my desk?

A friend of mine recently told me that he had spent a Saturday night at home alone on Facebook, drinking at his desk. What a gloomy image. Far from connecting us, Facebook actually isolates us at our workstations.” If we analyse objectively, we can not deny the assertion of Hogkinson.

Many researches based on empirical studies have termed the Facebook as seductive media almost like cocaine. Researches also suggest that in the developed world, Facebook Addiction Disorder (FAD) is becoming a real problem, it is a psycho-physiological disorder involving tolerance; withdrawal symptoms; affective disturbance; and interruption of social relationship in the real world. You may diagnose by yourself whether you are suffering from FAD or not answering the checklist given below:

a.You lose sleep over facebok
b. You are more than an hour on the facebook
c. You become obsessed with friends on the facebook d. You give more emphasis on facebook than your other important assignmenst (e.g. study for the student) in the real world.
e.You change your profile picture over and over again. That means you are worrying about your image far too much.
In our country, as uninterrupted Internet is only available in the urban areas so far, FAD has not become widespread like in the developed world. However, due to introduction of broadband and wi fi technologies, the Internet is growing faster. So, we can not discard the possibility of a large number of FAD affected students in the near future. Although there is no survey on the issue in Bangladesh, the observation suggests many students from upper-middleclass to high-class strata of the society, particularly of Dhaka have become Internet addicted. Some of them have been found over obsessed with the facebook. So, before reaching to an alarming situation we should take some precautionary measures right now.

To avoid FAD, the following actions may be taken:
a. Define the objectives of using facebook and you must stick to those objectives.
b. Make a facebook schedule and stick to that schedule.
d. Don't leave the important works (e.g. class assignments, exam preparation) due to facebook activities.
e. Facebook is a cyber world and in it you can interact with the people virtually only. Give more importance to the real-life social interactions.

Finally, I like to quote from Baroness Susan Greenfield, famous British neuroscientist, “ We can not turn back the clock, but the threat is growing because technology is becoming more seductive and powerful. We must start facing up not only to the impact that computers are having on ourselves and our childrenbut also to the wider implications their use will have for our society in the future.”

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