Facebook Distraction

If you have been spending most of your waking hours just refreshing your Facebook page in your browser in your laptop or smart phone, then you are most likely suffering from Facebook distraction.

Facebook Distraction

In this article we will talk about some of the ways that you can avoid Facebook distraction and start to take charge of your life.

The first step to avoid Facebook distraction is to understand as to why you end up spending too much time in front of Facebook in the first place. Do you spend hours playing some stupid game on Facebook and keeping a tally as to who among your friends do well? Or do you end up spending time chatting with friends who are online? Is browsing through other people’s walls eating up your time? Or do you spend time updating your status messages and uploading photos and videos? Most likely, your Facebook or dependence is a result of a combination of these activities. Let us try to tackle each one of them separately.

If you are distracted by Facebook games, then stop playing them. Inform your friends not to request you for game favors any more. Make your intention loud and clear, so that you will not be tempted to play the game by your online friends. If you end up spending time chatting with friends, then you must choose a different time to check your Facebook status. For example, if most of your friends are online at night, then you shift your Facebook browsing to the morning. That way, you end up checking your status messages for a short while only. Keep a time limit of say fifteen minutes each day for Facebook and as soon as the time is up, log out of Facebook. Reduce this time progressively to reach a level where you check Facebook utmost just once a week for ten minutes.

Keep your computer in a room that is away from your bedroom and study room. Keep the internet disconnected unless you are actually using it. Turn off the alerts in Facebook apps in your iPads and smart phones. This will help you to avoid getting distracted by Facebook every other minute. Instead of discussing homework over Facebook, work together if needed in a nearby library or reading room. You can also develop the habit of actually referring journals and books instead of relying on websites and Wikipedia for research information for your projects.  Make sure that you spend your meal time with family. Discuss with them on how their day turned out and you can talk about your day as well. This will help in bonding with your family. When you are doing one activity, focus on it. Try to spend more time outdoors and have a fixed routine for your meal time and bed time. Learn the habit of going to bed early and waking up early. This will help you get a kick start for your day.

Make sure that you do not post a status update for every trivial thing in your life. If you want to respond to a status message in a friend’s wall, pick up the telephone and speak to him or her. If you feel that it is too trivial for a phone conversation, then probably it is too trivial for a Facebook response as well. Once you stop responding to other people’s comments and posts, they will also stop responding to your posts thus helping you to overcome the keen urge to keep updating status messages. This will help you to avoid Facebook distraction and focus on leading a healthy lifestyle.