Why Teens Are Addicted to Facebook

by guest blogger, Chloe Spencer

Before we get into Chloe's post, I'd like to introduce her. Chloe Spencer is 19 years old and has been on the net for five or six years. Her blog at NeoPets Fanatic has been providing Chloe with spending money for quite awhile. I hope she will write about that, among other things. Chloe's Dad, Stephan Spencer, has been guiding her in her pursuits and is a steadfast supporter...but of course! I am fortunate to know Stephan and to have met Chloe at the last BlogPaws Conference, where I invited her to become a guest blogger on Lip-sticking and she said yes. I am confident you will enjoy her writing, her fresh view of the world, and her talent. Don't forget to visit NeoPets Fanatic. And, leave her some comments - what do you want to know about young people on the net, today? We can all learn a lot from one of their own. Stay tuned for Chloe's posts, twice a month. 

Almost every teenager has a Facebook page. Almost every teenager goes on Facebook every day. And many become addicted.

Thousands of adults have Facebook pages, too, but not nearly as many adults as teenagers are on the site for hours at a time each day. So why are teenagers sucked into the Facebook scene so much more easily? What is it about the site that turns their use into an obsession?

I'm sure there are many scientific explanations for this, but I’m interested in how the teenager sees it. I'm 19 and I can tell you exactly why we become addicted to using Facebook for many hours of our daily lives; through our point of view. Even when some reports say we're giving up on Facebook.

Teenagers and younger adults are obsessed with social networking. Whether it be online, through friends, at parties, at school, at the mall, etc. life is about talking and hanging out with your friends and making as many new ones as possible. A teen goes to a party and asks everyone she meets, "Hey, are you on Facebook?" The next day, she adds all the people she just met, and goes to look at their Facebook wall, photos and mutual friends, etc.

A lot of it is about building your number of friends. But, that doesn't take hours every day, so what is it that teenagers do for long periods of time on Facebook? They talk to friends on their walls or on chat, play games, comment on people's statuses off the homepage, and more.

But, I can tell you the most addicting part of Facebook is posting new statuses; uploading new photos; getting attention from people and wanting people to notice your status updates and photos and comment on them. It builds your self-esteem and pride to see many people "like" your status updates and your photos. It makes you feel popular and liked.

Almost all teenagers are searching for this and Facebook is a base to get this ego-building satisfaction. It becomes an addiction, just like girls who dress provocatively to get attention, which is exactly what they are looking for. Or guys who get into vandalism and being "bad;" it makes them feel cool, it gets their friends' attention, and their popularity rank goes up with each bad thing they do – until it becomes an obsession.

Teenagers thrive on this--happiness in teenage life is based on social status and events. And Facebook provides the opportunity to be social or at least feel like you are, at all times, especially when you're at home without your friends, feeling lonely or left out of the loop.

With Facebook, your social life is only a click away.

Comments

[Shane]

I'm really glad I found this post.

I'm 24 years old and i've been using the the net since 2000. I've basically seen everything, from the first time they introduced voice chat on yahoo, to watching danny way skate over the great wall of china live, to the first video on youtube, to all the massive changes i've seen on myspace then it died.

It really is a real bad addiction which is hard to break apart from. Sometimes I think it's worse then drugs. I remember I was the first person at my school with the net on my phone which was back in 2004 and I was using one of the first colored screen nokias!

I don't even know what gain I get from using the net so much, but I do agree with social networking, is to "be liked" and it's a confidence booster.

From using the net 6+ hours a day, for 11 years, i'm surprised i'm not over weight, but i've developed insomnia!

I'm not using the net as much as I use to, but I believe our generation should change.

[susan]

"Happiness in teenage life is based on social status and events" - how very sad. What happened to basing one's happiness on volunteering, helping others, hiking a mountain, doing well in school?

[Jamie Baker]

My daughter is into Facebook. She likes to get in touch with her friends through Facebook. But I make sure that Facebook won't own her. So I set up some boundaries to make sure she won't neglect her studies