Is the average Facebook user addicted?

I just read an article that CNN posted titled “5 Clues that you’re addicted to Facebook”. It gives the story of a single working mom with a 12-yr old daughter and how her daughter gets mad at her because the mom won’t get off Facebook to help her daughter. It then goes on to list 5 signs that you too might be addicted to Facebook. I’ll talk more about these below. Before I read the article and just saw the title, I assumed that the article would be about a college-aged student, but I was wrong. It caught me by surprise that a mom would actually neglect her child in favor of Facebook. I mean, you would think that she would have some sort of priorities in life, right? But I guess not. So it’s not just college and high school students that overuse Facebook, it’s professional, middle-aged people as well.

As I mentioned above, the article continues to go on to show 5 different signs that you’re addicted to Facebook. Now, I’m not saying that EVERYONE is addicted, but the majority definitely is and here’s why. (The CNN signs are in bold)

1.     You lose sleep over Facebook. There’s no surprise that the most activity that Facebook sees comes at night.  Dustin Moskowitz, Co-Founder of Facebook, says that “During our biggest peaks - Sunday & Monday night around 10EST - more than one million people will be simultaneously logged into the site”.

2.     You spend more than an hour a day on Facebook. A Neilsen study found on Mashable says that Facebook users spend an average of 3 hours and 16 minutes a day on Facebook!

3.     You become obsessed with old loves. Ever heard of Facebook stalking? Checking wall posts, pictures, friend adds, etc. Everyone’s done it. And now with Facebook status updates being the centerpiece of Facebook, it’s easier than ever.

4.     You ignore work in favor of Facebook. Psh who wants to work anyways. And this has become a major issue in the workforce, which is talked about (here, here, and here).

5.     The thought of getting off Facebook leaves you in a cold sweat. Ok, I agree, a cold sweat is a little extreme. But most users can’t go a day, let alone a week without checking Facebook, talking about Facebook, or wondering what their friends are doing on Facebook.

Now there are surely people that don’t use Facebook as actively as most, but at least going by this CNN article, the average Facebook user is definitely addicted.

 

Tony Blair: Faith, Globalization, and Malaria No More

So I just got back from hearing Tony Blair speak and wow, am I impressed. He’s without a doubt the most famous person I’ve ever seen speak and just his ability to engage and interact with the audience is unbelievable. Besides his charisma and his illustrious oratory ability, what he actually had to say was quite inspirational. I’m going to try to reiterate it below, but it will come nowhere near to how well he was able to articulate it. If you ever have the opportunity to see him speak, I highly recommend it.

The title of his talk was “The Road Ahead - Faith and Reconciliation in a Time of Global Interdependence”, so as you can imagine, he talked about the many problems that we face as a world, and how we need to come together as a global community in order to fix those major issues. Specifically, he talked about faith and religion and how if we were able to eliminate religious boundaries than the road to eradicating poverty, and dealing with the many other global issues (financial crisis, global warming, energy, etc) would be much more tangible. He then goes on to list three things that we need to focus on in order to eliminate religious boundaries.

1)    Eliminate extremism. And not just Islamic extremists, but extremists of all religions. He says that best way to do this is by taking advantage of “the people” (i.e. the majority) and of the wide majority of moderates. He believes that empowering them to take action against the extremists of their own religion will help mitigate much of the racial divide.

2)    Get religions to work together. He starts by giving the example of abolishing Malaria in Africa, and in fact, The Tony Blair Foundation is a major supporter of the Malaria No More initiative. He says how hospitals are very sparse throughout most of Africa, yet churches, mosques, and temples are located in multiples in every town. If religions would look past their differences for the common good of their own people and use these religious centers as health care centers as well, then bed nets and malaria prevention can be rapidly spread.

3)    Resolve the Palestine / Israel conflict. He says that if politicians were able to negotiate a legitimate and sustainable peace treaty, then this would be the ultimate symbol that religions can co-exist in peace. He says that the best way to accomplish this is by allowing Palestine to attain statehood, while still keeping Israel in tact.

He finally concludes by telling the story of the Northern Ireland peace process (something that he helped broker), in which Protestants and Catholics that had battled for years (called The Troubles) over religious and political differences were able to come together and create a peace treaty.

By focusing on these three things, Blair thinks that we will be able to work together as a global community to help solve the plethora of global issues that we face. I do believe that his approach is quite idealistic and overly optimistic, but I can’t say that he’s wrong. And, frankly, I do hope that he’s right and that someday we’re able to live in a world where there are no religious boundaries and where we do have hormonal peace.

What do you think? Is Blair’s viewpoint right?

Does Generation Y Dream Too Big?

So I was talking to one of my friends the other day about what he was going to do after he graduates from college. He’s a Business Economics major, and is specifically interested in international business. We talked about a wide range of opportunities that he could get in to – from going to graduate school to doing consulting to volunteering and a wide range of jobs in between. To each idea he responded, “Yeah, that could be cool, but I want to do something exciting”. Which I would then respond, “Well, what’s exciting to you?” Then he would say, “I’m not sure, I just want to do something influential”. When I would then make a sarcastic comment and say, “O, ok, that narrows down the options”. Essentially, the conversation got us nowhere except probably making him more confused about his future options than he was before we talked. And I realized that this isn’t just an issue with my friend, I think it’s a Generation Y issue.

            Here’s what I see as the problem: How many times have we heard of twenty-something year olds starting businesses and making millions of dollars? Mark Zuckerberg, Kevin Rose, and a ton of other ones (top 50 entrepreneurs under 30) just to name a few. All of these stories, combined with the plethora of available opportunities, have gotten into the heads of Generation Y. It has made us think that the sky’s the limit, anything is possible, and anything less than that is just mediocre. We want to change the world. We want to be revolutionary, not ordinary. Now that’s all good and well, but no one is going to change the world in a day. In fact, unless you get lucky, you’ll have to work for years to make an impact. But Generation Y has a tough time with patience. We’ve grown up in a world where things are instant, and we don’t like waiting around for things to happen. We look to the sky but don’t realize that you can’t reach the sky without taking the first step. That’s why, at least in my opinion, it’s become custom now for people to change jobs every 2-3 years, if not less than that. People want greatness, and if they don’t get it, they become disheartened and disappointed.

Now I’m not saying don’t have dreams, but I am saying that you have to be realistic about your opportunities. Let’s face it, not all of us are going to change the world and not all of us are going to be revolutionary. As much as our moms have told us that we’re amazing and that we’re number 1, most likely we’re not. Now I’m not saying don’t have dreams and hopes, but I am saying that you have to take the first step.

So what’s the first step? First and foremost, figure out what you want. “Change the world” is not an answer. Either is “Let’s just see what happens”. How are you going to change the world? Figure out what career you want and what’s the best way to get in to that career path. Once you get their, work hard, but be patient. Don’t half-ass your job, because no one that has ever achieved greatness was lazy. But don’t expect to become CEO in a day either. If you take it step by step, while still having your eye towards to future, you will still be able to achieve greatness. But overlooking that first step could be detrimental for your career and for your ego. 

The thing is, we as a generation have the opportunities and the potential to truly change the world, but saying it and talking about it won’t make it happen. We need to take action and strive to achieve those dreams, otherwise we will always look for and think of something better, but it will never come.

Could Social Media Be Ruining Our Lives?

So I’ve had this thought for a little while now, and coming across this article made me think that my thoughts could very well be true. Simply, the article says that people that use Facebook get lower grades. Now the study isn’t the most accurate study, and it suggests that it could be due to causation - in other words that other factors could contribute to the lower grades. Things like Facebook users are more likely to have active social lives, or be involved in sports, music, or other extracurricular activities that take up their time. But the thought still remains... could spending time on Facebook be ruining my grades? My job? Or my life?

Well, in my opinion, yes, it is. And I think people are just starting to realize that although social media is beneficial, done in excess it can certainly be detrimental to one’s life. Think about how much time an active social media user spends online in a given day – 4 hours, 5, 6, more? That’s quite a lot of hours. I mean according to Tim Ferris all you need is 4 hours in an entire week to run a whole business, and people are spending 4+ hours a day blogging, chatting on Facebook, looking at pictures on Flickr, tweeting, etc. Imagine what could be done if people used their time doing other, more productive things. Imagine how much time people spend at work sitting on these sites rather than actually working. And like the article mentions above, imagine all the college students that are wasting their hours on Facebook instead of interacting with their friends, studying for tests, or being active in the community. After all that, does spending that much time on social media sites still make sense? Or is it just a big waste of time?

I’m not saying that people should spend zero time on social media sites because there are some benefits, but I think people need to realize that these sites are addicting, and that there are more efficient things that people can do with their time. I’ve listed 4 easy different things that people can do with their time instead of spending it in front of their computer.

1. Read a book. There’s nothing better in my opinion than a good ol-fashioned book. It helps you zone out, relax, and it helps keep your intellectual spirit running.

2. Go on a walk. With all the time that people spend on their computer, it’s important to take time out of the day to go outside and get some fresh air. It’s healthy, relaxing, and it will help get your mind off the nuances of life.

3. Spend time with your family/friends. These are the people that get hurt the most by your excess time spent online. Every hour you spend on social media sites is an hour that you don’t spend interacting with friends or family

4. Start a side-project. So much can be accomplished with all of the extra time you would have if you cut down on your social media time. This can help keep you do something that you’ve always wanted. Create a new product, re-engineer a car, solve a puzzle, or do whatever it is that excites you.

I think that if people cut their social media time down by an hour or two they will realize how efficient they really can be and how great of an impact they really can have. So next time you want to stalk your friends on Facebook or read tweets on Twitter, think against it and do something more productive.

Is this Lebron's year?

So as the regular season of the NBA comes to end, all the good memories of playoffs past start to come back to life. Remember Jordan’s game winning shot over the Jazz? Remember Dwane Wade’s heroics vs the Mavs? Remember the Lakers vs. Kings series or the Heat vs. Knicks series? Well, they’ve all got one common denominator.. playoffs, baby! The one time of year where true basketball heroes emerge and true greatness is brought to the table. But who’s gonna win it all this year? Will the Lakers stay dominant in the west? After all, their healthy, young, talented, o yeah and they have Kobe. Who will come out of the East? Will it be the Celtics or the Cavs? Or will a team from Florida surprise the league? These are all questions that will be answered in the coming weeks but I’ll try my best to predict the future below.

So let’s start with the easy side, the West. The Lakers are hands down the best team in the West with a handful of teams battling it out for second place. I like the Lakers staying healthy and dominant throughout most of the games, with maybe a few bumps here or there. The problem is that the Lakers have shown signs of inconsistency throughout this season with some losses to some pretty weak squads. A game or two like those in a series against the Nuggets or the Jazz and the Lakers could be looking at a pretty steep hill to get out of the West. With all that said, I still think the Lakers come out on top. Kobe’s just too dominant and they just have too much power inside, especially with Bynum coming back.

The East on the other hand is a much different story. First off, there’s the Celtics. Even though they’re slightly older and banged up, they’re still returning champs and they still have three future hall of famers. Yes, they had a slightly under the radar year but they were will able to come out with the third best record in the league and they definitely have the experience to make it to the finals. Their biggest question though is whether they still have that drive and motivation that carried them to the championship last year. Personally, I don’t think they do.

Then there’s the two contenders from Florida – Orlando and Miami. Orlando has Dwight Howard who is the best big man in the game right now, but they’re lack of depth in the back court will hurt them. Losing Jameer Nelson for the year was a huge loss for them and I don’t think they’ll be able to overcome it. Orlando will go out to the Celtics in 6 in the second round. Miami on the other hand has in my opinion the runner-up for the MVP vote, Dwayne Wade. The man is just having an unbelievable season and might be the best closer in the league right now (sorry Kobe and Lebron). Sadly, I don’t think that’s enough. Miami will be a contender for many years to come, but this year they’re going to fall short to the Cavs. Wade and Lebron will have some epic matches but in the end the Cavs supporting cast is better than Miami’s and that will be the difference maker.

So that leaves us with the Cavs. Lebron James at this point is the overwhelming choice for MVP. His numbers are ridiculous and his team will have the best record in the NBA. They’re playing probably the best team defense in the league and they have the offensive firepower to run with most teams. Their biggest problem though is experience. Does anyone remember what happened to them a couple years ago in the finals? 0-4. Sweep. That hurts. They have the talent and the skill to beat the Celtics in a 7 game series and come out of the East, but I don’t know if they have enough to win the championship.

Now the showdown that everyone will be looking forward to – Kobe vs. Lebron. Two of the best in the league right will now will go head to head in the NBA championship. But as anyone will tell you, this is a team game. And although Lebron will win the MVP, the Lakers are a better all around team. They have the power inside, a solid backcourt, and a deep bench. O yeah, and they have the motivation and the desire to win, especially after what happened last year.

So at the end of the day, sorry Lebron, but this isn’t your year. Kobe and the Lakers will take down the ring and the championship in 5 games in Los Angeles. Just remember, you read it here first.

What If?

So as my short, yet highly entertaining college years come to an end, I start to rethink about old times and think about the “what ifs”. I’m a person that doesn’t have many regrets in life. I know that I definitely wouldn’t be the person I am today if I didn’t go through the experiences and challenges that I faced earlier in life, but I think everyone has to wonder “what if?” Now, the thing that I’m trying to do is instead of sitting here and getting all mopey and sad thinking about the past, I’m going to try to take advantage of the “what ifs” and see if I can minimize them in the next stage of my life.

The next stage in my life is going to be a big transition for me. I’m moving to the other side of the country (New York) and I’m starting an office essentially from the ground up. It’s no easy task to say the least. But I think by analyzing some of the things that I’ve gone through previously in my life, and learning from those mistakes in the future, it’ll make me have a much better experience because of it. And realistically, I think that many college students are going through the same type of scenario and going through this process might help them as well.

So here are my “what ifs” and here’s what I’m going to try to change for the future.

1. I lived in one of the quiet, more separated dorms, rather than the main freshman dorms, but what if I lived where all the other freshmen lived?

2. I joined a Fraternity, but didn’t participate in many other groups or organizations, but what if I did?

3. I slacked off through most of my first year or so in college, but what if I tried harder?

I could get into more personal and specific details but I think I’ll leave those for my own private reflection since I doubt anyone wants to hear those stories. But like I said, rather than mope and worry about the past since I know I can’t change it, here are some things I’m going to try to do when I move out to New York to hopefully not have these “what ifs?” when the next stage of my life rolls around.

1. I’ve been researching as much as possible about the potential areas to live in in New York. What’s in the surrounding area? What types of people live there? Is it a nice area? Is it quiet (well, quiet for New York) or is it loud and rowdy?

2. I’m going to try to be as active in different groups, organizations, and networks as possible. I’m going to be a recruiter so that’s always a good first step for networking. I’m a big sports fan (all sports). I love to play poker. I love social media. It’s these interests and passions that I will look for in other organizations that I didn’t participate in in college.

3. I will give it everything I have. In my opinion, I’ve realized that the harder I work, the better I will feel as a result. Not working hard and slacking off only makes me feel that I could have done more, or tried harder, and I want to make sure I don’t have those doubts in New York.

Although these opinions are personal to my own experiences, I think that many college students or even seasoned professionals have these same types of thoughts. But in my opinion, it’s the ability to understand the mistakes and lessons learned in the past and work towards ensuring that these same mistakes and regrets don’t resurface in the future.