This Side of the Creek

Oh the joys of social networking. We can keep up with longtime friends, meet new friends, post jokes, quotes, stories, prayer requests and so much more. It’s certainly become a trend across the world.

However, social networking can create a new problem for many; a problem that mental health professionals are sure to see more of as the months and years pass. I’m talking about addiction… to Facebook (or any other social networking site).

Addiction to Internet material is not in itself a completely new thing. We have seen it for years with pornography and buying sites such as eBay. But social networking sites pose a different concern and that is, a desire for so many of us to “have to” post everything on these sites. What causes the urge to update our statuses once a day or even several times a day? What is compelling us to stay connected?

I can’t answer those questions for anyone else. Yet, I do wonder if it’s because we all crave relationships with other human beings or perhaps we crave the attention or the laughs. Maybe we are struggling with mental illness ourselves and are using these sites as a cry for help. Again, I don’t know.

For myself, I have tried to scale back the number of status updates I write or the amount of pictures I upload. Why? Because I knew for myself that I was relying in some ways on my 1,032 friends on Facebook for something… whether a laugh, a shoulder to cry on or whatever.

What about you? Are you finding yourself talking in a social networking language most times and feeling compelled to update statuses or upload photos every time something happens? Is it causing arguments among those with whom you interact daily in person? Or, are you a once-a-month “poster” who just checks in to see, truly, how old (and new) friends are doing?

Something to consider…