TECH

Facebook, it's time for a break

61 percent of users want to save the drama for their (real life) mamas.

 

We all have that friend who has stubbornly disappeared from Facebook at one time or another, only to reappear some weeks or months later. In fact, that friend has a good chance of being you, according to a new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The report, published Tuesday, says a hefty majority of Facebook users—61 percent—report having "taken a break" from the site for several weeks or more, largely because they didn't have the time or energy to be part of Facebook's Internet society.
Of the 1,006 Pew surveyed in December 2012, seemingly everybody said they'd gotten sick of Facebook at some point, but 20 percent said they were currently on their Facebook sabbaticals. Another 27 percent said they planned to spend less time on the site in the next year. Though most users didn't plan to change their time spent on the site, only three percent reported wanting to increase their time socially networking.
As for why, the reasons were varied but generally shared the same theme. The top reason (at 21 percent) was because users simply didn't have time to dedicate to "liking" their friends' cat photos, pruning their friend lists, or commenting on people's check-ins to the airport. Equal amounts said they simply weren't into it and that it was a waste of time, and a full nine percent said their reason for pursuing some non-Facebook time was because there was "too much drama/gossip/negativity/conflict."
After witnessing even one comment fight between your grandma and your drinking buddies from college—and I have—it's hard to blame those users for wanting a little "me" time. But although the numbers might seem like an early death knell for social media, it's just as likely to be a normal social cycle as people feel out what level of communication fits them. After all, Pew's same report claims 92 percent of those who use social networks still keep a profile on Facebook, whether they're taking a break from it or not. In that sense, Facebook is a bit like the Hotel California—you can log out anytime you like, but you can (almost) never leave.