It's the most popular social networking site in the world. Facebook keeps you connecting with friends and family. It's a place to find the latest viral videos and chat with millions around the world. But when your virtual life starts to take over, you may have crossed the line from social networking to Facebook dysfunction.
For Beckye Estill, Facebook is a constant lifeline.
"I probably keep it on all the time all day and then check in several times a day," she said.
Estill is married with two kids in college. She doesn't work, so she spends hours each day checking friend's pages and chatting away with people she may never speak with face to face.
"I've never met her in person, but she's a good friend just through Facebook!," she said.
Estill is a cancer survivor. She says the site is an invaluable tool when it comes to letting friends and family know how she's doing.
"If I have any medical proceedures coming up or anything, I immediately can post those on (my page) and people immediately ... I get responses, people are praying for me or encouraging me," said Beckye.
Estill's family says she's a slave to Facebook and she admits it's hard to log off.
"I definitely would say I was addicted," she said. "I'm not like an alcoholic where that's the...I can't think, you know? I'm always thinking about the next time I'm gonna be on Facebook. It does take a lot of time, when I could be doing things around the house, doing laundry things, like that."
Estill isn't alone.
The social networking site launched in Feburary of 2004. Facebook statistics show it now has more than 400 million active users. Half of them log on to Facebook every day. There are more than 60 million status updates posted each day and more than 5 billion web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, and pictures shared every week. The average user has 130 friends and spends more than 55 minutes per day on the site.
Users such as Britt Bailey. This stay-at-home mom stays connected to close to 1,200 friends for hours every day.
"I have an application on my iphone and it sends me alerts when someone posts something on my wall or sends me a message," said Bailey. "I mean, that's how I find out what my friends are doing for the weekend, or what's going on."
For Bailey, Facebook is not only a way to keep up with her new business, it's the perfect place to post video of her beautiful baby girl.
"People jokingly say, 'Oh, I'm addicted to Facebook'," said Bailey. "You know, I could never not do it and I honestly tried not to do it one time and I got sucked back in. I don't think I'm addicted, maybe I'm in denial."
Facebook is a hit with college students across the nation.
"I talk to friends I used to go to high school with," said Emily Moore, 22, a senior at U.T. "You can always find time to waste on Facebook, no matter what."
"You go into Facebook chat and you'll see someone that's always on line any hour of the day," said Brett Reisman, a 22-year-old senior at U.T. "I saw one girl yesterday that has 9,000 photos tagged to her I was like, 'Oh my God!'"
Dr. Jane Morgan Bost, associate director of the University of Texas Counseling and Health Center, says Facebook itself isn't the problem, a disconnection from real life is. When social networking uses starts to interfere with your daily routine, the warning signs are easy to spot.
"Could be a student's grades start tanking, they could be losing sleep, they're often unaware of how much time they've spent on Facebook," said Dr. Bost. "They're not really making the choice to do it, they're just feeling this sense of compulsion and having to do that behaivor."
So how do you get the Facebook monkey off your back? Experts say first, you have to acknowledge you have a problem. Keep a log of how much time you spend on the site; If it seems excessive, give yourself a set time to stay online. Turn off the e-mail and mobile notifications. If all else fails, experts say block the site from your computer.
