Easier way to get rid of Facebook addiction

Lately there has been a lots of discussion at work about Facebook addiction and how it is ruining the social relationships.


I do not feel Facebook is the problem, it is a great medium to do lots of good things (my thoughts here.) The problem is us, we are not able to control our temptation to click the FB icon as soon as we have one spare minute. We as human beings like to think/see what others are doing rather than thinking about new business idea/solution to a problem etc…

I see lots of people (I’ve done it too) get an emotional rush and deactivate their FB or twitter account but comes back after few days, why? I think it is because they’ve not found alternate method to spend that spare one minute. 

During my hypnosis training I learned your subconscious mind is not able to understand negative instructions (like stop this), it needs alternative/replacement. For example, if you are trying to stop smoking you have to tell your brain instead of smoking have glass of water or apple. When the mind does not find something else to do it will tempt you to pick up the old habit.


In this book “Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think“, Brian explains that if you have smaller plate for lunch/dinner you eat less. What this means is you have to change the situation to change your habits.


The solution I’m proposing (and implementing) is to get rid of the Facebook app from mobile. We browse Facebook on the phone while watching tv, talking with someone, in a meeting, in the loo everywhere you can take the phone.  If you remove the app it is hard to get on it quickly, you have to get your laptop or desktop to access it and that is hard work :). 

So what do I do in that spare minutes while I’m not stalking people on Facebook…I’ll go on linkedin or twitter. No that’s not what I’m going to do, this are few of the options(apps) I’m going to adopt StumpleUpon, Pocket, Google Reader, Sudoku.


In one sentence remove the app from your phone and replace it with something else. 

As +Dalai Lama has said “Responsibility for all your actions” in his 18 Rules of Living, just get on with life, Facebook is not going to away soon, change the environment and habits will change. 

This is very good explanation of Facebook Addiction



Mrugank Patel
mrugank.patel@gmail.com
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