How to break a Facebook addiction?

[transam]

2 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

Alcohol vs Facebook.  Harmful use of alcohol results in the death of 2.5 million people annually, causes illness and injury to millions more, and increasingly affects younger generations and drinkers in developing countries.

 

 

Transfixed iPhone users who walk out into traffic and get squashed will soon catch up..

[marcusarelus]

5 minutes ago, transam said:

Transfixed iPhone users who walk out into traffic and get squashed will soon catch up..

Don't have to worry about Thai women.  They don't walk anywhere.

[55Jay]

On 8/26/2018 at 8:50 AM, marcusarelus said:

I must have pushed a wrong button as all my Facebook content got deleted and won't come back.  Worked for me. 

Huh!  I thought it was just me.  Nothing or very few things appear now and disappear the next time I open FB.  Used to be able to scroll down and see all the previous posts, comments, etc.   I didn't do anything/change any settings.  Started about 1 week ago. 

[KhunFred]

Any addiction that doesn't impact your pocketbook, your weight or your liver, is fairly harmless.

[spidermike007]

This is an enormous problem with the youth today. Even the millennials are owned by their devices. Some do not even know how to hold a conversation. Some have no social skills whatsoever. It is very scary, to think these people will be the leaders at some point. What will the world look like?

 

Even guys like Sean Parker are coming out and talking about the destructive elements of facebook and social media. You tube is included in that, but at least there is a potential educational component there. He no longer allows his kids to use FB. Sounds like he might be a real man. That is what real men do. They establish boundaries. Even baboons will not let their kids run wild without any supervision or boundaries. 

 

Tim Cook was asked recently in an interview about this. He offered some sound advice. He said just put your phone away. Check it every hour or so. But, do not allow the device to own you. Own your device. It is called self discipline. Something many are not familiar with. 

[marcusarelus]

30 minutes ago, 55Jay said:

Huh!  I thought it was just me.  Nothing or very few things appear now and disappear the next time I open FB.  Used to be able to scroll down and see all the previous posts, comments, etc.   I didn't do anything/change any settings.  Started about 1 week ago. 

Thanks for posting that.  I feel better now.  I thought I was a dummy.  Of course Facebook doesn't offer any help or respond to any help requests so I'm lost.  They close all the poster generated help threads that are critical so what to do?

[transam]

This is funny.....

Must be 20 years back. My ex UK wife was in hospital for an operation on her woman's bits, the anesthetist talked her into an Epidural so she could be awake but not see what was going on during the op.. ..

 

I was at work, phone rang, it was her.....

 

I said, "Oh, thought you were having your op now"...she said..."I am on the table right now, the surgeon gave me his phone to call you, they told me my intestines are out on my body somewhere and fixing stuff"......."Great" ....I said....?....?

 

Now if FB was around then I would have missed lunch for sure....?

[marcusarelus]

12 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

This is an enormous problem with the youth today. Even the millennials are owned by their devices. Some do not even know how to hold a conversation. Some have no social skills whatsoever. It is very scary, to think these people will be the leaders at some point. What will the world look like?

 

Even guys like Sean Parker are coming out and talking about the destructive elements of facebook and social media. You tube is included in that, but at least there is a potential educational component there. He no longer allows his kids to use FB. Sounds like he might be a real man. That is what real men do. They establish boundaries. Even baboons will not let their kids run wild without any supervision or boundaries. 

 

Tim Cook was asked recently in an interview about this. He offered some sound advice. He said just put your phone away. Check it every hour or so. But, do not allow the device to own you. Own your device. It is called self discipline. Something many are not familiar with. 

Boy a real live old fogy.  The hit social apps encourage interaction and conversation.  I talked to 20 young Thai women today and told them how to dance and what to wear to enhance their appearance and how to bounce up and down and talk at the same time.    Check out the most popular live video streaming social network in the world. With 200+ MILLION users.

 

You speak Thai right? So no problem.  And find out how the new social media actually encourage conversation and interaction and get with it.  Stop it with yesterdays news. 

[seancbk]

1 hour ago, simon43 said:

 

Your could ask the same about drinking alcohol, playing computer games or taking drugs or gambling etc.  It's all fine until it affects your health - physical and mental.

 

My 2 nieces exclude everything from their lives because they are totally addicted to FB.  They do not go to school because they prefer to play FB.  They do not want to work because they want to play FB.  They do not want to sleep because they will miss FB time. They do not want to interact with anyone who interferes with their FB time.

 

I set up a FB business for them, but they don't even want to do this because it cuts into the time that they can chat with their friends on FB.

 

It is difficult maybe for you to understand how FB rules their lives, almost 24 hours each day.  That is an addiction.

 

Update:

 

 

 

I also use FB extensively every day for social, business and charitable purposes.  So my views are not out of ignorance..

 

 

I do understand, the thing is it's not Facebook they are addicted to, it is being able to chat to their friends all day.   It's possible to have multiple chats going at once and to feel very connected to your friends all the time.  

Can't they be forced to go to school?  Or rather shouldn't they be forced to go to school?   

There is perhaps some good news as both Facebook and Instagram are about to release tools to monitor and control time spent on their apps.   Details can be found here - https://www.thefader.com/2018/08/01/instagram-facebook-time-limit


 

[55Jay]

I think you're about to do the right thing when you move back to Thailand.   Stay away from them and stop enabling their behavior with financial support.   From what you've said and the tone of it, once they figure out Uncle Sugar isn't paying out anymore, they'll drift away.  Don't chase them.  Don't feel guilty.  You can't save them.   When they cut it off with you, which they will, just let it happen. 

 

I maintain a buffer from my nieces and nephews in the US (my sister's kids) - all 7 of them.  It's a bit easier as they are brainwashed Mormons.  ?

[Cheops]

Post can be deleted. 

[Cheops]

5 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

owned by their devices

Aren't you owned by your device with the 9000 posts on TV?

[spidermike007]

18 minutes ago, Cheops said:

Aren't you owned by your device with the 9000 posts on TV?

 

No. I only post from my desktop. I earn my living online. And spend a little time doing posting, for fun, and as a hobby. Nothing wrong with that. I exercise discipline with all of my electronic devices, and spend a very limited amount of time on social media. Other than TV, I rather dislike social media. 

[simon43]

That is what real men do. They establish boundaries

 

Sadly, I am not their legal guardian in any way.  I have no legal control over my nieces - no waving the big stick - I have to use carrots. (I would love to have guardianship control over my nieces, but that would affect the potential income stream for their layabout parents when these girls head off to Pattaya in the coming years...)

 

...and stop enabling their behavior with financial support.

 

Read my OP again.  I do not enable their behaviour with financial support, other than giving them small money to buy food every day.  They plead for ridiculous amounts of money from me (500 baht to buy kway dio!), but they never get it.

 

FB has some very good benefits for social interaction and business.  But like many other products, services, foods, drinks and past-times, it needs to be used in moderation.  I'd love to see FB offer a parental maximum hour control per day, based on the user's account. If the nieces knew that they could use FB for let's say 6 hours per day, they would quickly learn to 'pace' themselves, leaving time for other activities.

 

There does seem to be a difference of opinion between the 'young uns' and older folk.  Let me just say that I made my money ($2 million - and spent it all LoL!!), from writing mobile phone applications.  So I'm certainly not ignorant of social media and mobile technology etc.

[marcusarelus]

1 minute ago, simon43 said:

 

 

 

Sadly, I am not their legal guardian in any way.  I have no legal control over my nieces - no waving the big stick - I have to use carrots. (I would love to have guardianship control over my nieces, but that would affect the potential income stream for their layabout parents when these girls head off to Pattaya in the coming years...)

 

 

 

Read my OP again.  I do not enable their behaviour with financial support, other than giving them small money to buy food every day.  They plead for ridiculous amounts of money from me (500 baht to buy kway dio!), but they never get it.

 

FB has some very good benefits for social interaction and business.  But like many other products, services, foods, drinks and past-times, it needs to be used in moderation.  I'd love to see FB offer a parental maximum hour control per day, based on the user's account. If the nieces knew that they could use FB for let's say 6 hours per day, they would quickly learn to 'pace' themselves, leaving time for other activities.

 

There does seem to be a difference of opinion between the 'young uns' and older folk.  Let me just say that I made my money ($2 million - and spent it all LoL!!), from writing mobile phone applications.  So I'm certainly not ignorant of social media and mobile technology etc.

If you made 2 million and spent it all I'd say you are not trustworthy enough to advise anyone about anything. 

[simon43]

If you made 2 million and spent it all I'd say you are not trustworthy enough to advise anyone about anything. 

 

Well at least it was my own money that I wasted, not leached off someone else ?

[55Jay]

On 8/27/2018 at 12:06 PM, marcusarelus said:

Thanks for posting that.  I feel better now.  I thought I was a dummy.  Of course Facebook doesn't offer any help or respond to any help requests so I'm lost.  They close all the poster generated help threads that are critical so what to do?

When there's no content shown, I presume because there's nothing new, now I'm getting this message on the screen. 

[balo]

Simon, there is nothing you can do , except stop the payments on their phone bills. The girls don't want to help themselves into a better life, they will end up like their mothers, which basically means getting pregnant with an uneducated Thai boy before they turn 20, will think its a good idea to sell their bodies for some quick cash. And the parents do not care.
Unfortunately you are not helping them to a better life, just extending the outcome.

[simon43]

Balo, in my humble opinion, you are 100% correct with your statement ?

 

Update - To give an example, there is another niece in the family who is now 19 years old and now pregnant for the 3rd time (from some unknown Thai boy). First pregnancy was at 15 years old - boy's family had to pay her off.

 

Doesn't bode well for these 2 younger nieces...