by Christina Pomoni

Created on: July 12, 2009

In the beginning, when you first saw that big white F on the dark blue background on your child's laptop you had no clue what this was about. You thought it would probably be another of those school assignments that require spending quite some time on computer and Face-something website was like Google maybe, full of information and a valuable source of knowledge.

It is over a month now that your kid is on Facebook non-stop. Every time you open the room door, the laptop is stuck on this page and your kid is lost in space. You did your research to see what Facebook is about; to understand what the big deal about this big white F on the dark blue background is. You read users' reviews on the Internet, articles on magazines, and experts' opinions on newspapers. Finally, you had to join Facebook to see for yourself, to have full control of the situation.

Joining Facebook; making the best out of it; reconnecting with old friends; staying in touch with dear people; using applications; supporting causes; entering forums; joining groups; playing games; chatting; negotiating; sharing knowledge; flirting; getting involved; more and more each day; more and more each minute; realizing the enormous impact of social networking on modern society; realizing your child is addicted to Facebook.

The signs are pretty clear.

- Obsessive log-ins: Children who are addicted to Facebook check their pages constantly to make sure they do not miss any live activity. Addicted children and Facebook users in general, have the need to update their status at a constant rate, every time something happens to them, every time they experience something in their real life. This is a sign of addiction.

- Isolation: Facebook addicts are isolated. If your child is constantly in front of a computer screen, interacting with online contacts rather than hanging out with real friends, talking over the phone or going out, then you are probably facing a real addiction problem in the family.

- Talking about Facebook all the time: If one out of two words are about Facebook, if your child is more excited about the new Facebook application than the school grades, if he/she freaks out if he/she cannot log on due to Internet connection problems, if anything he/she thinks, talks, breathes about is Facebook, then your child is clearly addicted.

There are probably more signs of Facebook addiction as each person is unique and children are too self-centered until they are fully developed

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