The Facebook Diet

Sparkler thisistoomuch10 tells the story of a new kind of addiction, and how she broke her habit. Enjoy! —SparkNotes Editors

We all are fully aware that all Facebook is good for is quizzes and posting endless pictures of yourself for all of your friends to see. But what happens when this site turns against you? What happens when all 400 bazillion of your friends couldn’t give a hoot about you? This is my story:

I got Facebook just the same as everyone else did. I quickly added friends and put up pictures of myself. I soon lost my wall virginity. Before I knew it, I was hiding behind my mask, chatting with people I have never spoken to in my life, flirting with boys, updating, re-posting, writing notes, and joining various groups. I was running home from school to check my notifications, reveling in the fact that I had 14. I was popular, but only digitally. I had formed relationships with people through a screen. I stayed up late just to write “(named removed for privacy and embarrassment reasons) is sooo tired should go sleep.” I had a Facebook identity, and I liked it!

But then, something bad started to happen. I was still keeping up the constant stream of notifications, but my friends weren't. They couldn't satiate me. My notifications had all been read. My news feed felt stale. I had become obsessed. I couldn’t believe it. Soon my whole (digital) social life crashed around me and I was left to pick through the remains and carcasses.

My self-esteem dropped to an all-time low. I still continued to check around the clock, and when my friend caught me sneaking off at lunch to check my profile, she confronted me. She sat me down and said, “You are an annoying, compulsive Facebook user.”

I was aghast. Had I become that weird girl you barely know who posts pictures of her cat and writes on your wall every day?

My friend told me to go on what she called "The Facebook Diet," which consists of the following:

1.       Do not approach the computer for a whole day (unless you have to for homework, but no Facebook).

2.       Write out a list of things you want to do and make plans to actually do them with real, live people. Obviously none of these plans can include Facebook, or hopefully the internet.

3.       After a week, check your profile but ask your annoying brother to make you stop after half an hour, or tell your mom you will help her out in half an hour.

4.       Wait another week, and after that you are cured.

After doing The Facebook Diet, I found that going out and actually doing things is way better than sitting around and pretending to.

I felt like Facebook betrayed me and stepped all over my self-esteem, but all I really needed was a life.

Are you, or have you ever been, addicted to Facebook?