Warning: If you’re an avid user of Facebook, you might not like (me or) this post.

Did you know that 1 out of 14 people in the world now use Facebook?  That’s 500 million+ people.  A pretty ridiculous amount of users if you ask me.  If you don’t often use Facebook often, you are not cool.

Although Facebook is a great place to stay updated on friends’ lives, most of the time spent there is a waste of time.  In fact, it’s a massive distraction from productivity.

Why?

Because so many Facebook-addicted folks post content in the form of:

• useless, meaningless updates
• incorrect grammar / typos
• narcissistic photos
• unnecessary pleas for help (ex: Omg, I need a boyfriend. / I’m so depressed right now…)

What do you actually GAIN from refreshing your news feed and checking these types of friend updates?

NOTHING.

An addiction to Facebook is basically an excuse for doing something more productive.

Facebook is, however, a wonderful and perfect creation for all narcissists of the world a.k.a. those who frequently post photos of themselves left and right, believing the world will flock happily to each and every new photo of his/her face in a new setting (which sadly is very commonplace — because those viewing have nothing better to do with their time).

Let’s think about this.

If you use Facebook 2 hours a day…

That’s 60 hours a month = 720 hours a year = 30 days a year = an entire month in a year of WASTING time.

Imagine all the things you could do in thirty days’ time. You could visit New York, start a new interest like playing the guitar, get started on an MBA, etc. etc.

As Alvin Toffler mentioned in his studies, by consuming loads of information, you end up absorbing nearly nothing.

What’s interesting about all this is that it’s not Facebook’s fault that so many people are addicted to it.  It’s kinda like an overplayed song.  It’s not the song’s fault that it’s overplayed…

I leave you here with a quote from Tim Ferriss (author of 4-hour Work Week):

There is a psychological switching of gears that can require up to 45 minutes to resume a major task that has been interrupted. More than a quarter of each 9-5 period (28%, or 134.4 minutes) is consumed by such interruptions, and 40% of people interrupted go on to a new task without finishing the one that was interrupted. This is how we end up with 20 windows open on our computers and nothing completed at 5pm.

Bottom line: Stop distracting yourself with Facebook and focus on getting something actually important done.

The ironic part of this post is you’ll probably end up reading it as an imported blog post in Facebook. :p

I can’t. At least I’m pretty damn sure I can’t.

If you’re like me, chances are you have a shorcut or bookmark on your browser for Facebook. And if you work a 9 to 5, you probably click the link at least 5-10 times a day. Key words: “at least”. Facebook is an addiction. It’s a fact. But why?

I was thinking about this today. Why exactly do I feel the urge to open Facebook whenever I sit down at my computer? I summed up a few key reasons:

1. Gossip. I succumb to gossip (like you) and want to know the very latest about my group of friends. ‘Hot damn… ____ is engaged???’
2. Convenience. Facebook makes it much more convenient for me to check up on (ahem, stalk) the status of friends rather than having to make a phone call or send and instant message (especially to those I don’t communicate much with).
3. Forums and conversations. If you participate in fan groups on Facebook, it’s fun to congregate and talk with other people that share similar interests as you. And these conversations are pretty active. Heck, President Obama’s voting day event was streamed and discussed live via Facebook.
4. Blog your life. i.e. update your status. C’mon, you know you do it. You’re emotional or you just found out something super awesome …or maybe you just watched an amazing movie… gotta update the status to let the world know!

I think it would be a fun challenge to stop using Facebook for a week if you are an addict. Cigarettes or Facebook abstinence = more difficult?

Did I miss any reasons above?

Have you ever received friend requests from people you’ve maybe met once but didn’t even introduce yourselves to each other during that time? Does that justify a friend request?

Getting awkward requests from people I’ve exchanged 0-5 words with is simply… strange. Usually the friend request will have an attached message like:

Stranger: “Hey… I think I met you before through ______…”
My response: “…And…?”

Seriously though, should my response be: “Oh! Right! Therefore we are friends! Let me add you to my cache of facebook friends!” I can’t help but feel: 1. maybe this person simply wants to increase his army of friends on facebook and boost his popularity, and/or 2. less respect for that person.

I think this is worth thinking about, because when a friend request is not completely merited, it could put a potentially good friendship or relationship into jeopardy (suppose the receiver rejects the friend request). It’s like asking a favor of someone you don’t even know that well (but not as severe obviously).

So let’s think about this. What really merits a facebook friend request? Besides the obvious reasons (e.g. your social group of friends), here’s a small list of my justifications:

1. We’ve introduced ourselves to each other and conversed on a topic we can both relate on for at least a few minutes.
2. We’ve messaged each other back and forth and are pretty familiar with each other (even though we’ve never physically met).
3. Long-time close friend and we haven’t spoken in forever!
4. Any relative.

Can you think of any others? I recently met a friend or two at a social outing, and by ‘met’, I mean simply introducing our names to each other. That’s it. This led to facebook friend requests.

Am I wrong to feel this is a bit strange?

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE making new friends. It’s one of the greatest feelings in the world really. But I learned through the years that the only friendships that matter in the long run are those with meaningful connections. Long-time friends. Not hey-I-know-you-and-you-know-me friends. Quite frankly, I’m not lacking in those types of friends and simply am not interested in meaningless friendships.

It’s not until you really sit down and think about how damn easy life is these days with the Internet…

Being in Taiwan, I can still:

• Impulsively text message a friend in the US for free via AIM
• Chat on the phone with my Dad (he’s in Hong Kong) via Skype for minimal $ at the click of a button
• Watch US television live via Sling Media
• Follow the market and trade stocks live via Yahoo Finance & Scottrade
• Keep up to date with all my friends’ developments via Facebook

These are truly indispensable applications for me. Life would be a lot less efficient without them. It’s truly amazing and wonderful what technology has allowed us to do today.

Internet, you rock.