Facebook addiction- How do I overcome this...?

So, I'm off Facebook for almost 3 days. I just got sick from all that faux, instant communication. I have some kind of love-hate relationship with it. I spend hours on Facebook, doing mostly nothing. Getting stuck on stupid disscusions. I loathe myself for chatting with somebody that I can't actually see or hear.

I've realised I'm neglecting the real world. To be honest, I've never liked it very much. Talking to another person, in reality, can make me feel very uneasy. But the friendships I do have, I have neglected. Choosing to be online instead of meeting up, instead of getting my butt out of the effing chair and get to do something useful.

I've decided I'm going for a walk outside now, and afterwards I'm gonna meet with a friend. I'm gonna ask her to change my Facebook password, I trust her enough, she won't do anything with my account.

But how do I cope? I've got withdrawl symptoms. Apathetic, depressed, don't wanna do anything, angry. I understand now how empty my life and my connections are. So many people I've never even met. I don't have a job, so I have way too much free time. How do I manage that.

Thanks in advance, sorry for any spelling mistakes.

I disabled my Facebook tonight. Basically, I realized that I'm not in a place to use it responsibly. Like you, I have too much free time; I've been ill for a number of weeks, and what was already a dependance became outright ridiculous. Hours and hours just waiting for that little red notification. I got panicked when no-one responded to freaking pictures of my cats. Like I need someone else to tell me they're cute…seriously. I couldn't even read the NYT without a break every two minutes (not kidding here) to see if I got a notification. Obviously, being informed about world events should trump someone "liking" a picture of my cat. I understand the psychology behind internet and Facebook addiction, just as I understand the physical and emotional dependance I had to deal with when I was using or drinking. I'm frustrated that if it's possible to become addicted to "it", apparently, I will be. I want to be able to do things halfway--that sounds odd, doesn't it? But, like always, I dive in with everything I have. I don't seem capable of moderation…in anything. Seriously useful trait for an athlete (which I was) or academics; rough for daily existence.

I feel ya man, I'm pretty much in the same situation, I think being on Facebook so much and not talking to people face to face has made me develop Social Anxiety as well as some other things. What I've found to be helpful is to take every chance I get to talk with people face to face, then I don't even want to go on Facebook, be it at the grocery store with the cashier, or the receptionist at the hospital, don't try to fight the anxiety of talking to people, that just makes it worse, go with the flow, if you find yourself in a state of awkwardness just tell yourself it will rearrange itself accordingly and everybody's lives will go on. What I mainly use Facebook for is a place to vent my feelings, but it just doesn't fill that void that I have and it creates a vicious cycle of depression, so I take every chance to talk to someone close to me about my feelings, instead of falling into that vicious cycle.

For me Facebook kind of fluctuates. There are periods when I post a lot for the genuine joy of sharing. There are times when I feel lonely and depressed and wonder "what am I doing wrong? my kitten pic only got 4 likes!!!! must change profile pic ASAP -- maybe it gets more likes". There are periods when I kind of forget FB exists (but that never lasts long, unfortunately).

As to how to overcome the addiction, I don't know. I started a new account with only 30 actual close friends on it, it didn't work though as I kept on logging on to the old one anyway. :/

I had a facebook problem. I'd post stupid things, try to play "therapist" for friends, and I once trolled someone because he was "creeping on" the girl I liked, and it got to the point that we'd gotten over 1,400 comments on a single thread. I look at how #######5 I feel about my life now, and then think back on what I wrote there, and a song just plays out in my mind; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPM1fBkg6Qg
I guess I got what I deserved.
(Hipster moment; knew the song by heart before breaking bad made it popular)

You overcome Facebook addiction by clicking "Log Out" and not posting anything, anywhere. In fact, log in once a week at most. It's just the internet. You don't need it.

I used it every day. Now, I'm lucky if I go on even in a month. I went from about 350 friends on an old account to just about 140 people I'd rather stay in contact with on the new one. It did take a slap to reality, but most things do.

The point is, you can enjoy life without facebook. It's just another way to waste time where you could otherwise be productive.

you might even be addicted to this forum.. addictive personality? Use it for something more productive, get attached to repairing things, or even breaking things, or photography, read stuff, or even get attached to money. Its more sensible than being attached to a useless social site that people basically use to satisfy their attention needs and their need to assure themselves that they are indeed doing ok just because someone else thinks so.

I don't think it's this easy, otherwise all addicts would just decide to get addicted to exercise, healthy food and volunteering and become professional models carrying the message of health and goodness throughout the world...

Our addictions do manifest in different ways. Some ways fit some people better than others. Facebook is fantastic for people who are finding "normal" social interaction difficult. It becomes a replacement for human contact; "likes" become a replacement for hugs or time spent with friends. When I am more depressed I spend way too much time on Facebook. When I am not... I stop "needing" it. But telling me to log out as means of solving the problem is as effective as telling a cancer patient to "just stop having this" and expecting this to be enough.

I have this in an addiction to at least check for comments a few times a day. Sometimes when I'm bored I will spend a lot more time on it. I would suggest doing whatever you can to find hobbies that you prefer to this. You can also just go off of Facebook completely. I have done that before and it's okay, but that's actually when I felt my true withdrawal symptoms. It's worth a try though- whatever you can do to stay away from it is good if it's out of control. Forums are also addicting- if you can think of a time you had before you used facebook and forums it's good to think of that to realize how unnecessary it really is...

I don't post anything anymore. That saves me from waiting and checking the app on my phone every few minutes to see if there's been a response.
Now I'm trying to only check my emails. I feel that if someone wants to tell me something they'll let me know personally.
I'm trying really hard not to scroll through everyone's posts. It's such a time killer and really.. Do you really care about what John made for dinner today?? Most posts are ridiculous anyway.
Cancel or delete your account if you can't control yourself. If you can, consider using it just for the email.

Let's start a movement! Lets all stop using FaceBook!

I suppose the best thing here is what you attempt to change something, it's too worse when people have strong addiction but do not realize it when their life keeps on destroying, like friend of mine who spend weeks in www, especially on dating sites and imageboards 4chan okcupid facebook originclub.com 4chan again - it was madness. His wife split from him.. But we helped him and he found work and limited internet usage.