[apotheon]

It provides sort of a "first hit is free" experience when you're trying to ignore it. "Oh, I'll just check my wall really quickly," followed by "I'm going to check this person's wall, because that comment was interesting," followed by more.

I don't have that problem. My problem is that I notice someone invited me to a party two months ago, and didn't bother to contact me via direct email -- something I actually check regularly. I'm socially lazy in a way completely different from the social lazy he describes; I don't make any effort to check the various online sources of "socialness" with any regularity, in part because I'm an introverted hermit. I do well in social settings, but first you have to get me to a social setting.

Despite this, I can understand the siren call of a service like Facebook for some people, because on the rare occasion I remember to check my Facebook page I can hear it calling. After about five or ten minutes, though, I get tired of it and stop for another month or two. Many others do not have that low threshold for getting tired of the Facebook experience, and I can see how someone might get sucked in.

If you're one of those people, the only way to scale back might be to quit cold turkey. In fact, I think that's probably true for the majority of regular (as in "common and frequent") Facebook users, though they may not realize it.

[cma]

Turn on email notifications. In fact, they are on by default.

[apotheon]

I do not need my inbox filled with the same crap that appears on Facebook. My email is for other purposes (like actual personal, direct contact, in the case of the address I give my real-world friends). Facebook is designed like a public feeding trough.