Need A Facebook Break? You’re Not Alone
What’s the Latest Development?
A new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project titled “Coming and Going on Facebook” reveals that 61 percent of current Facebook users “have taken a voluntary break from the site for a period of several weeks or longer” for reasons including lack of time (21 percent) and lack of interest (10 percent). In addition, 34 percent of users say they’ve spent less time on the site over the past year, and 27 percent say they plan to spend less time on it in 2013. Of the latter group, over a third are younger users (ages 18-29).
What’s the Big Idea?
Don’t toll the bells for Facebook just yet: Social networking in general is up, with 69 percent of adults participating compared to 47 percent in 2007. Also, according to the report, most Facebook users plan to maintain their current usage rate in 2013. However, Pew Internet Project director Lee Rainie says that the information in the report “[shows] that people are trying to make new calibrations in their life to accommodate new social tools. For some, the central calculation is how they spend their time….[T]hey are trying to figure out how much they get out of connectivity vs. how much they put into it.
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