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The Facebook Epidemic

Don't call it a backlash, but The Times profiles some young adults who have pledged to give up Facebook, and what they consider to be its all-consuming "social" universe. One psychologist says she had spoken with dozens of teenagers trying to break the Facebook habit, either by forming their own support groups, by entrusting friends with their passwords, or by -- gasp! -- deactivating their accounts altogether.

School officials, meanwhile, are pondering what the school's role should be, since students use Facebook mostly at home, although excessive use can affect their grades. The Times also points out that Facebook doesn't make it easy to break the habit as deactivating an account requires checking off one of six reasons, including, "This is temporary. I'll be back," while it's easy to reactivate an account by entering an old login and password.

Read the whole story at New York Times »

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