Top Ten Ways to Know if You Are on Facebook Too Often

Facebook. Up until a few months ago I contemplated leaving it, deleting my account. I didn't see the real value of it. And I didn't quite get the people who post "going poop," "bored and going to bed," "this sucks." And I didn't like sharing tid bits about me with people I haven't seen in years.

But then my hubby deployed and after being home all day with my dear little girls, I craved adult conversation. I turned to blogging, and achieved the satisfaction that comes from communicating with writer mamas around the world. I turned to writing, and have been turning out short stories and essays. But, it wasn't enough.

Then my husband's ship start a support group on Facebook. The ship started posting photos of my hubby and other sailors, showing what they've been up to. And then it started: I began to post status updates more frequently. So I guess I will stay with Facebook, for now.

But now I am thinking I am on it too much.

Top Ten Ways to Know if You Are on Facebook Too Often

1. You dream one night that you have to give your fish away, which you conveniently put in the freezer, because you are moving across country. (All coming from a friend's status update that said she needs to use up her frozen food before they move in two weeks.)
2. You check Facebook so often that the only new status update is your own.
3. You actually begin to remember the number of friends you have. (Fortunately I'm not at the point where I care if someone unfriends me; I've unfriended people, so I understand if someone unfriends me.)
4. You wait and wait and wait to see a friend update their status with big news, and it never comes.
5. You are secretly glad your husband isn't on Facebook, because it means there is at least one of you who is still normal, still sane to take care of the house and children.
6. You laugh at the couples who post on each other's wall twenty times a day. Aren't they sitting on the same couch?
7. You try to friend someone you already tried to friend months ago; they just don't want to be your friend, okay?
8. You find Facebook updates more rewarding the Tweets.
9. You log on during episodes of insomnia and post on the walls of friends you haven't been in touch with for years. Did they see the time you wrote? Yes, you need help.
10. During more periods of insomnia you look at all the albums of friends from old to see what they look like, how many children they have, and if they seem happy. You hope they are, and then realize they probably are because they're probably all sleeping.