# So I'm utterly addicted to Facebook. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 6, 2008, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-utterly-addicted-to-facebook/448270 "2008-05-06T09:02:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-utterly-addicted-to-facebook/448270/1 "2008-05-06T09:02:46Z")
I haven’t seen a “Are you on Facebook?” thread for awhile so I figured I’d make one. I joined Facebook about a month and a half ago and I’m completely addicted to it. Is anyone else out there as addicted as me? I know a few of you are and I lot of you are friends of mine on there but I swear, I must browse that site at least five or six hours a day. If anyone would like to add me, here is my profile: [Facebook](http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=799115897) And don’t worry…I don’t send out those application requests often. I know a lot of people get annoyed by them so it’s my nature to only send back application gifts and requests that I GET first. If you never send me any, you’ll never get any. But I add anyone and everyone. Like I said…addiction. It’s a terrible thing. If you don’t wish to share your Facebook here if you have one or don’t want anyone to add you, that’s okay too of course. You can use this topic to just talk about Facebook too. 🙂 And finally, hello to everyone here who’s already on my friends list. You’re all great people. Actually, even those of you not on my friends list and not even on FB at all are great people…it’s just those who are have a certain degree of more awesomeness in my eyes. 😉 ETA: There are actually two FB SDMB groups: [Facebook Public Group | Facebook](http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2408464343) and [Facebook Public Group | Facebook](http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2204594699) ---
**Author:** ![scareyfaerie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scareyfaerie/32/3135_2.png) [@scareyfaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scareyfaerie)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-utterly-addicted-to-facebook/448270/2 "2008-05-06T09:11:02Z")
I am just not getting the point of Farcebook. If I want to keep in touch with my friends, I just pick up the phone. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-utterly-addicted-to-facebook/448270/3 "2008-05-06T09:16:42Z")
[QUOTE=Idle Thoughts] I swear, I must browse that site at least five or six hours a day.] [/QUOTE] I take it you don’t have a job? Enjoy your free time while you can! ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-utterly-addicted-to-facebook/448270/4 "2008-05-06T09:17:39Z")
[QUOTE=ScareyFaerie] I am just not getting the point of Farcebook. If I want to keep in touch with my friends, I just pick up the phone. [/QUOTE] I rarely use it to keep in touch with friends. I use it for the games and applications. There’s a lot of fun games on that site. 🙂 You can keep things like a virtual bookshelf and play a virtual stock market and run races. I didn’t really like it either when I first started but it gets very addictive if you try it for a week or so. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-utterly-addicted-to-facebook/448270/5 "2008-05-06T09:18:53Z")
[QUOTE=guizot] I take it you don’t have a job? Enjoy your free time while you can! [/QUOTE] Nah, I’m disabled. I do volunteer, though. 🙂 So yeah, I guess I have a lot of time to spare. Pathetic, I know, but it’s at least fun. ---
**Author:** ![scareyfaerie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scareyfaerie/32/3135_2.png) [@scareyfaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scareyfaerie)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-utterly-addicted-to-facebook/448270/6 "2008-05-06T09:23:02Z")
[QUOTE=Idle Thoughts] There’s a lot of fun games on that site. 🙂 You can keep things like a virtual bookshelf and play a virtual stock market and run races. [/QUOTE] See, that really doesn’t appeal to me at all. I work in front of a 'pooter all day and I don’t want to spend my spare time in front of one as well, so playing games isn’t something I want to do. As for a bookshelf, well I have several real ones at home with proper paper books on that I read whenever I want to. The rest is also stuff I just don’t have time for - pressures of my social life, you know. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-utterly-addicted-to-facebook/448270/7 "2008-05-06T09:37:48Z")
[QUOTE=Idle Thoughts] Nah, I’m disabled. I do volunteer, though. 🙂 So yeah, I guess I have a lot of time to spare. Pathetic, I know, but it’s at least fun. [/QUOTE] I wouldn’t say “pathetic”; I’d probably do the same thing. Here I am, putting off a report for tomorrow, and my girlfriend is watching a telenovela. There’s a lot of stuff to do there. Some day I’ll get to learning all of it. ---
**Author:** ![atomicbadgerrace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@atomicbadgerrace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/atomicbadgerrace)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-utterly-addicted-to-facebook/448270/8 "2008-05-06T10:01:46Z")
I got a Facebook back in… ah mid-2004. Not sure of the date; my user ID is number 3 in my network, though. I wouldn’t say “addicted” so much as I do check it daily and use it to keep in touch with people. I never got into the Application thing, though I did help develop one of the desktop apps that provides updates. I don’t want a FunWall, I don’t want to SuperPoke… I’m pretty much in the “these things have made Facebook more MySpace-ish, and I don’t like that” crowd. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-utterly-addicted-to-facebook/448270/9 "2008-05-06T16:05:59Z")
[QUOTE=ScareyFaerie] I am just not getting the point of Farcebook. If I want to keep in touch with my friends, I just pick up the phone. [/QUOTE] Can you pick up the phone and call 300 friends simultaneously to let them know you’re going to be headed back to school for graduation, that you’re having a party tonight, or send them all pictures of your last vacation or newest baby? Didn’t think so. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-utterly-addicted-to-facebook/448270/10 "2008-05-06T17:39:24Z")
[QUOTE=Santo Rugger] Can you pick up the phone and call 300 friends simultaneously to let them know you’re going to be headed back to school for graduation, that you’re having a party tonight, or send them all pictures of your last vacation or newest baby? Didn’t think so. 😉 [/QUOTE] Or feed your friends to **Santo Rugger** the zombie? :o ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-utterly-addicted-to-facebook/448270/11 "2008-05-06T18:08:16Z")
I signed up about 2 months ago after a long resistance. I’ve gotten in touch a few old high school friends, and these are people I most likely never would have heard from again if it wasn’t for facebook. So it does have some value. I’m also getting married soon so it’s nice to be able to share pictures of the wedding/honeymoon with everyone. ---
**Author:** ![auRa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@auRa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auRa)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-utterly-addicted-to-facebook/448270/12 "2008-05-06T18:43:47Z")
[QUOTE=ScareyFaerie] I am just not getting the point of Farcebook. If I want to keep in touch with my friends, I just pick up the phone. [/QUOTE] Some of my Facebook friends are high school friends of mine from Texas, who are now nicely dispersed all across the continental US and beyond. Others, for example, include a really good friend of mine who now lives in Barcelona. I, on the other hand, am in Finland. Picking up the phone is a lot more difficult and costly (both for me and for them) than sending them a message on Facebook or sharing pictures of my latest antics. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-utterly-addicted-to-facebook/448270/13 "2008-05-06T20:13:53Z")
I went to friend add you but you’re already my friend on Facebook! How embarrassing :o ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-utterly-addicted-to-facebook/448270/14 "2008-05-06T20:20:50Z")
Probably something y’all should read regarding Facebook: [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24351675/](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24351675/) > [@](#): > > Turns out, even the privacy-conscious Sarah Browns of the world freely hand over personal information to perfect strangers. They do so every time they download and install what’s known as an “application,” one of thousands of mini-programs on a growing number of social networking sites that are designed by third-party developers for anything from games and sports teams to trivia quizzes and virtual gifts. Basically, the article goes on to say that there’s no current proof the application-makers are selling your information - but nothing to stop them from doing so, either. > [@](#): > > “This is an area that’s completely unregulated. Yes, there are contracts. But if the receiving end doesn’t abide by the contract, you’re still out of luck,” Abril says. ---
**Author:** ![Kid\_A\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Kid\_A\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kid_A_1)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-utterly-addicted-to-facebook/448270/15 "2008-05-06T21:33:04Z")
And that’s why I don’t use the applications. Except Scrabulous…how did I get through a day of work without it? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-utterly-addicted-to-facebook/448270/16 "2008-05-06T23:30:50Z")
I signed up to Facebook nearly a year ago. It was fun for a few weeks but now I barely use it, and neither do most of the rest of my friends that signed up. An ex girlfriend got in touch with me through it, but we exchanged a couple of messages and that dried up (she was recently divorced, I was recently engaged, enough said!). Occasionally a friend will send a message, but what’s really annoying is that every time anyone replies to a thread or comments on a picture, etc, I get an email telling me I should log in to Facebook to see it. Yes, I’m sure I could turn off email notification, but frankly I never get round to it. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-utterly-addicted-to-facebook/448270/17 "2008-05-06T23:35:42Z")
[QUOTE=Kid\_A] And that’s why I don’t use the applications. Except Scrabulous…how did I get through a day of work without it? [/QUOTE] This is me, pretty much. I have (I think) 15 or so “friends”–every one of them I know in RL or have at least met in RL. I’d like to keep it that way. I also try to avoid the apps, mostly because they’re annoying and I don’t want the cyber equivalent to Beanie Babies etc. But Scrabulous–I always have at least 3 games going. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-utterly-addicted-to-facebook/448270/18 "2008-05-07T01:44:51Z")
I use it primarily for professional networking (along with linked in), with a few family members and some others. My current social service addiction is [twitter](http://www.twitter.com). But even my network there is mostly professional. ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-utterly-addicted-to-facebook/448270/19 "2008-05-07T03:05:10Z")
I was banned on Facebook. :mad: :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![atomicbadgerrace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@atomicbadgerrace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/atomicbadgerrace)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-utterly-addicted-to-facebook/448270/20 "2008-05-07T03:20:05Z")
[QUOTE=Kozmik] I was banned on Facebook. :mad: :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] Do I even want to ask why? I’ve seen some craziness on Facebook in the 4 years I’ve used it. But I’ve never actually heard of anyone being banned. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-im-utterly-addicted-to-facebook/448270.md?page=2)