Do people, who constantly stay on Fluther and Facebook, have addictive personalities?

I read somewhere that time spent on Facebook is relative to low self esteem and narcissism but I don’t know about Fluther.

It could simply be indicative of someone who has more than the usual amount of “spare” time, who enjoys the interaction in a different kind of setting that the internet provides. I spend a lot of time, but I don’t neglect my real life friends or activities for the computer, I just like to do this when I’m home.

I think they are very different forms of communication.

On Fluther you are inviting people to tell you what they are thinking.

On Facebook you are announcing things about yourself you think people may be interested in. Someone announcing an awful lot of stuff on Facebook does seem odd to me. As if they are saying “Look at my super busy and wonderful life, which still allows me loads of time to upload to the internet”.

I don’t think they have addictive personalities in either case, I just assume they have spare time.

Constantly? I don’t know anyone who constantly stays on. When I am not on, I am not even thinking about it.

Both. I do both for fun and also to kill time. And I have a long history of having an addictive personality.

This is something that I’ve been interested in and observing on a personal level for awhile now. To my understanding, someone who has an addictive personality must have some kind of addiction going at all times; what one is addicted to may change, but there has to be something external on which one depends for a sense of excitement, purpose, and well-being.

By that measure, I definitely do not have an addictive personality. Social media like Fluther (I don’t do Facebook so I won’t talk about it) tap into deeply engrained human traits that, in other contexts, no one sees as troublesome. No one would be worried by someone who seeks out the company of friends, enjoys sharing points of view, in the process giving and receiving affirmation. We’ve been neurologically wired by natural selection to feel rewarded by these activities. A couple of generations ago, there were people who carried on voluminous correspondence with multiple acquaintances, but no one spoke of “mail addiction”. Further back, people frequented “salons” for this kind of interaction, but no one spoke of “salon addiction”.

But because this can now happen through the intermediary of technology, and it is so very available, We don’t really know whether to be worried about it or not. It will take some time, I think, to understand where this form of socialization fits into the larger scope of human activity.

I have an addictive personality, I will keep doing something for hours a day for months until I get bored of it, then I move to something else. My last addiction to a particular online game lasted for months, I would not move for 6 hours straight sometimes. But that’s just one example.

I think if you obsess about an online website and you just can’t break yourself away from it, then yes it’s an addiction. Unlike @marinelife I do think about Fluther when I’m not on here…stupid addictive personality…

I don’t know man, but I reeaallyy need a cookie right now. :: taps arm ::

Nope. They are not necessarily addictive or bored. Indeed, I suspect they get a positive benefit from fluther, as you do. It is not an unhealthy thing. Just because you do something a lot doesn’t make it unhealthy.

I don’t know about an addictive personality but I certainly have an obsessive one, and I tend to spend most of my spare time occupied with whatever my “fad-du-jour” is. Fluther isn’t busy enough for me to waste a lot of time on it, and Facebook is just boring to me.

Internet addiction certainly does exist, although it hasn’t been all that long since psychological associations in modern societies have accepted it as such. I don’t really know what it entails though, but I don’t think a site or community needs any specific requisites to cater to whatever addiction you can get that needs the Internet to exist.

I treat Fluther as a job that I like…Is it addictive to go to work every day?

Maybe some people. Not all.
I think of addiction as being something that interferes with your life. I am constantly connected to the internet, particularly Facebook, but it doesn’t interfere with my life. I’m alone a lot. However, when a real person comes in, that changes. I’m productive, meaning, my house is clean, my pets are fed and played with, the kids are always dressed and fed and clean, all of my projects are done by deadlines, etc etc. If I were neglecting all of those things to be online, then I might consider it a true addiction.
Anyone that is friends with me on Facebook knows that I am connected at all hours of the day, probably more than your average person… but I know when and how to disconnect.

Hmm, as much as I say I’m addicted to Fluther, in reality, I’m just bored outta my skull.

Some, yes.

Well Facebook (and other social networking sites) just is not my thing. I know the types of people who have these accounts and I’ve even read the contents within them when they invited me to. I’m definitely a more introverted person who tends not to be into other people’s business and I’m not a fan of having others read about my personal life. Personally for me when I do engage in conversation with others I prefer to do this either in person or through emails.

Fluther is a different ballgame for me. I get the chance to engage in conversation with different types of people that I would never meet in person. It is more private and because I’m doing this with people that I do not know it makes for an interesting experience. There are many topics on here especially relating to philosophical and scientific matters that I never could talk about with people that I’m around on a daily basis. I blog on other sites too since not every blogging site allows quality discussions about certain topics. Even then I would say that I’m only on here about 2 to 4 hours a week at the most.

I get into a ‘just five more minutes’ mindset when faced with something that interests me, and that comes in discrete amounts. Fluther Qs don’t take very long, individually…

I’m not constantly on Fluther, but I’m ALWAYS on my Facebook. I do have a bit of an addictive personality (I’m quite codependent in relationships) but honestly, I just really repost funny pictures that other people have posted more than I update my statuses and everything