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Camilya S Thompson Instructor: Malcolm Campbell English 1102 Insert Date Topic Proposal: Can you truly be addicted to Facebook or is it just a myth? Introduction/Overview I will be doing my project on Facebook. More specifically I would like to know if Facebook could truly be addictive. I also would like to know if Facebook has positively or negatively affected our generation. You will hear a lot of people say that they have to get on Facebook every single day. However, are you really addicted to Facebook or using it has an excuse to not do the important things that go on in your everyday life? In 2009, it is said that people ranging from the ages 18-24 used Facebook more than any other group. However, in 2010, people from the ages of 25-34 use Facebook more. So do we still call this addiction now that an older generation is using it more? In my project, I plan on specifically talking about the age groups who frequently use Facebook (age groups 18-24 and 25-34). I do not plan on using people from older or younger generations because a lot of people in the older generations are not frequent users of a computer in general. The reason why I decided to do my project on Facebook addiction in the first place is because many people put the blame on social network sites for the failures in todays society. I strongly disagree with that. In my opinion, the social network sites do not cause people not to do their work. I also do not think Facebook is addictive. If Facebook is as addictive as people like to say it is, why arent there any Facebook rehabilitations? In reality people use Facebook to creep

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on people they may or may not know personally. People dont need Facebook to live their dayto-day life. So far, I have done a little research to successfully complete this project. I first looked up the demographics of Facebook Users divided into specific age groups on the internet (http://www.istrategylabs.com/2010/01/facebook-demographics-and-statistics-report-2010-145growth-in-1-year/). I also started looking through the databases and found two articles that I feel will help me on this project. The two includes You Were Cuter On Facebook by Bessie Recep and Addicted to Facebook. Ive also talked to my roommate, who also has this class, on my topic. She basically told me to make sure that I show both sides of view when I start on the actually project. Ive also made an blog entry on who uses Facebook the most ages 18-24 or 2534. I know for a fact that my topic will be debatable. The people who frequently use Facebook everyday will not think Facebook could be addictive. However, the older generation will see otherwise. All they see is young people on the computer. Others have even given Facebook Addiction a formal name (Facebook Addiction Disorder (FAD)) "Addicted To FACEBOOK." Dolly 480 (2010): 68. MasterFILE Complete. Web. 1 Feb. 2012.

Initial Inquiry Question(s) If Facebook is indeed so addictive, why do teachers use Facebook as a learning tool for their class? Is Facebook only addictive to specific age groups? How did Facebook start off as a easy way to keep in contact with your friends then shifted to a new form of addiction? If Facebook is an addiction, are there treatments for it? Do you have to go through a 30 day program to overcome that addiction

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My Interest in this Topic I am interested in Facebook addiction because I am a frequent Facebook user. Even though I truly dont believe Facebook addiction is possible, I would like to know what the studies show. I knew that it would be a little easier to find information on the subject since many people have done research on this particular study. I also think I would have a easier time relating this topic to Web 2.0. I am interested in the real reasoning behind why people think Facebook book could be addictive. I also know that Facebook addiction will catch a lot of my readers attention once I fully get to the bottom of Facebook and addiction. Next Steps I plan on looking through dictionaries to find the definitions behind my topic. For example, I plan on look up the definition of addiction, then looking up how people describe Facebook addiction. I would like to know the similarities between the two. I will also look through the databases and find more information on Facebook alone instead of just looking for Facebook and Addiction. I also plan on using the live chat feature on Atkins Library webpage and chatting with a librarian so he/she could help me better look for information on my topic.