When is Facebook Too Much?

At San Ramon Valley High School, it's rare to find a student without a Facebook page.

For some, Facebook is an obsession that ties them to their computer and cell phone, with an e-mail or text message sent every time they receive a new notification or message from a friend. 

With hundreds, or for some, over 1,000 Facebook friends, those messages can come every few minutes. Checking all of those messages takes a lot of time.

You may think you will just be on the computer for five minutes, but those five minutes turn into ten minutes, then thirty, and soon, you've spent over an hour or more scanning your friends' pages, checking out new photos, and catching up with people on Facebook Chat.

"Facebook is addictive because it gives people something to do when they are bored or if they are procrastinating," said junior Sophie Hodges.

There are people who add status updates about their activities throughout the day, and get annoyed by friends who do the same, spamming their "news feed" with what they ate for lunch or just bought at the mall.

Chad Rebarber says he thinks his classmates might be addicted to Facebook.

"I think teenagers can easily become hooked on Facebook. It's like a modern day newspaper for teenagers. The latest gossip including relationship updates or rude photo comments are all easily viewed on the front page," said Rebarber.  "Facebook is also a place for flaunting one's own identity. The implied mentality is a cry for attention."

Recently, people were concerned that all of this private information they give out on Facebook might be shared with people they aren't friends with on Facebook.

There was a controversy over privacy settings on Facebook, where users were required to opt-out to prevent sharing of photos, fan pages and other private information to users who aren't your Facebook "friends."

The Facebook privacy issue first started in early February after they changed the terms of service agreement.  The new terms stated that Facebook now owned all users' data forever, even after accounts are deleted.  After uproar from users, the company reverted back to the previous terms of service.

San Ramon Valley High student Nicole Lung closely monitors her privacy settings on Facebook.

"I have it set to private so only my friends can see my profile and info and the only way another person can find me is if we're in the same school network or are friends of friends," said Lung.  "Everyone has access to the privacy settings so if they're concerned with people seeing their info, they just have to change the settings."

Despite the privacy issues, Facebook is a convenient way to stay in touch with friends and family, as long as you know what you are getting into.

Just don't forget there is nothing like catching up with an old friend by talking to them for hours, and you won't have to worry so much about privacy when your friend is right there next to you.