[hk__2]

Research shows that most people use FB to keep in touch with their close friends and family. I don’t think it’s bad to be addicted to that.

Edit: Some references for the people who downvoted:

     http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0193397308000701 (also talks about how FB is a good help for people with low self-esteem)
     http://www.cairn.info/revue-sociologie-2017-1-p-57.htm (French)
     http://www.cairn.info/revue-sociologie-2017-1-p-83.htm (French, talks about how people in their 40s use FB - spoiler: to keep in touch with close friends and family)
     http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2014.01.002
     http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/05/21/teens-social-media-and-privacy/

[RodgerTheGreat]

Facebook wants you to believe that it "enables" communication with friends and family, but in practice they work hard to maintain a stranglehold upon that vector, excluding or absorbing alternative tools to ensure that they can gather personal information and insert advertising.

Communication isn't a problem, but communication mediated by a predatory middleman and augmented with addictive mechanics absolutely is.

[steaknsteak]

That's my experience. I use it to keep in touch with friends and family, and to keep on top of events being held in my community and by my friends. I'm not sure what I would do without the Event and Group parts of facebook, as many of my friends and communities I'm a part of use those to plan/organize social activities and it works pretty well. One of my close friends who never checks his facebook is constantly out of the loop on that stuff.

In my experience most people idly browse through the news feed for a couple minutes a few times a day. I doubt that a large portion are actually addicted to it.

[silassales]

I think the more dangerous problem than being addicted to it, is the affect it can have on you even if you are only on it for a few minutes a day. I find social media causes people to only see the best parts of other people lives and therefore wonder why their life is not that great, and than theres a nice downward spiral of discontent and depression.

Social media, used by some only to keep in contact is okay, but the subconscious comparison of your real life to others social media life, can be really harmful.

[hk__2]

> but the subconscious comparison of your real life to others social media life, can be really harmful.

Do you happen to have some papers on that subject? I’ve seen papers on how people present themselves on FB; not on how they "judge" others’ feeds.

[silassales]

Not anything more than various blog posts or web articles that I've read. I should have been more clear that I was mainly speaking from a personal perspective and what I, and those around me, have discussed and experienced. Sorry for being misleading.

[noncoml]

That's what it was supposed to be for me, at least in the beginning.

Then I realized that I keep in touch with the people who I want to keep in touch using direct messages, phone calls, email, etc.

[hk__2]

Yes; I wonder how the separation of Messenger and FB itself has changed the general user’s FB usage.

[sidcool]

I agree that FB is a valuable tool to reach to individuals and communities and keep in touch with friends