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If social media has you down, here's a guide to slowly but surely walk away, temporarily or for good.

There's a lot of different types of social media out there. Whether you're into the image sharing at Instagram, the pithy textual tweets of Twitter, or the uber-networking of everything social at Facebook, they're all more popular than ever.

But they are also under fire as much they've ever been. Do you realize that the first "Quit Facebook Day" was held almost five years ago? The social network was barely out of diapers at that point, and the backlash had already begun. Today, Facebook is the whipping boy of all things wrong with social networking, and maybe for good reason. But it doesn't matter what network you're into: when it takes over your life, it's not a good thing.

Here's my dirty little secretabout the same time that Quit Facebook Day was commencing, I realized I had a big problem with Twitter. I was following fewer than 200 people, maybe half of whom actively updatedbut I was utterly obsessed with never, ever missing a single tweet. I had third-party Twitter apps on my phone, desktop apps running on the side of the screen, SMS alerts, email alerts, you name it. If someone said something clever with 140 characters, I had to know.

Then, one day, I didn't. Well, I did...but the amount of work I wasn't getting done, and the number of real-life friends I was ignoring wasn't worth that. I had to do something radical. So, I cut myself off.

I didn't miss out on anything world-shaking, the globe kept on spinning. Eventually, it felt utterly normal to not be on Twitter all the time.

These days however, I have the same problem with Facebookand at least there, I actually know most of the people.

So, knowing I have a radical chance coming, I analyzed why it's a problem, why it's not that big a deal to take care of it, and best of all, the steps it takes to go off social networking, either piecemeal or cold turkey.

Continue Reading: Why Quit?>

Excerpt from:
How to Quit Social Media (and Why You Should)

Connected: Holly Ewins, Jessica Fowler, Madison Lowe and Jasmine Southall have a bit of fun with their tablets. Picture: Simon Santi/The West Australian

Teenage girls are almost glued to social networking sites by the time they reach age 15, a Perth study has found.

In some of the first research in the world to track total screen use in children from the time they wake until they go to sleep, University of WA researchers found 80 per cent of 15-year-olds and almost half of eight-year-olds use screens for more than the recommend two hours a day limit.

Their study of more than 2600 WA students aged eight to 16 argues that current advice on how much children should use television, computers, smartphones and tablets is out of date and "virtually impossible" to enforce.

Excessive screen use has been linked to poor physical and mental health, including an increased risk of depression and anxiety in teenage girls.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommended in 2001 that parents limit screen use in children older than two to fewer than two hours a day and Australian health authorities adopted the guidelines.

Writing in the journal BMC Public Health, the Perth researchers said television was still the most popular screen choice but some children simultaneously used two or three devices.

Lead researcher Stephen Houghton said that though boys were more likely than girls to watch computer games for long periods, girls were the surprising big users of television, the internet and in particular social media.

"Specifically, by 15 years of age girls were almost seven times more likely to exceed the less-than-two-hours recommendation for social networking than boys," he said.

Professor Michael Rosenberg, of UWA's school of sport science, exercise and health, said that though the study's results might discourage parents trying to impose screen limits, they should not give up.

Read more:
Girls on screen to stay sociable

UNITED NATIONS - France appealed on Thursday for UN member states to work together on an international legal framework that would make social network providers share responsibility for the use of their platforms to spread messages promoting violence.

"There are hate videos, calls for death, propaganda that has not been responded to, and we need to respond," Harlem Desir, French state secretary for European affairs, told reporters on the sidelines of a UN General Assembly meeting on the rising threat of anti-Semitism.

The French call for a radical shift in the way governments treat social networking companies such as Facebook and Twitter came two weeks after Islamist militants killed 17 people in Paris at a satirical magazine and a Kosher supermarket.

"We must limit the dissemination of these messages," Desir said. "We must ... establish a legal framework so the Internet platforms, the large companies managing social networking, so that they're called upon to act responsibly."

Michael Roth, German minister of state for Europe, echoed Desir's remarks. "We need a clear legal framework for the EU and on the international level," Roth said.

Desir called for an international conference in the coming weeks. France announced this week it would recruit thousands of extra police, spies and investigators to boost national security and intelligence.

But this is not enough, Desir said. The world should target militants' use of the Internet and social networks to promote violence and discrimination.

Desir cited child pornography, which social networking companies have banned at the request of governments, saying it should be the same with calls for hatred and violence.

"We believe that the racist remarks, anti-Semitic remarks, spread through the Internet today or in other media do not fall in the category of expressing an opinion," he said.

"Rather there should be law that allows for us to suppress a rejection of others and a call for violence and a call for death."

Original post:
Social networks must help stamp out promotion of violence

Washington, Jan 21:

The negative relationship between Facebook use and grades has little to do with the social networking site Facebook, a new study has found.

Helping college students balance social media use and schoolwork is better than disconnecting, researchers said.

The study by Reynol Junco, an associate professor at Iowa State University, found that while freshman struggle to balance their use, social media is less of a problem for upper classmen. The difference relates to self-regulation.

Junco surveyed more than 1,600 college students about their Facebook behaviour, looking at time spent strictly using the social networking site and time spent on Facebook while multitasking.

For freshmen, all Facebook use had a negative impact on their grades. For sophomores and juniors, only time spent using Facebook while doing schoolwork hurt their GPA. For seniors, there was no relationship between the two.

It would be easy to conclude that simply spending less time on Facebook would improve a students GPA, but Junco cautions against rushing to that conclusion.

Certain tasks on Facebook, such as sharing links and checking in with friends, were positively linked to GPA, said Junco.

In previous research, Junco found that tasks, such as creating or RSVPing to an event, were positively linked to student engagement.

Its not just the way students are accessing the site, but the way in which theyre using the site that has an effect on academic outcomes, Junco said.

Go here to see the original:
Facebook not to blame for negative impact on grades: study

UNITED NATIONS

France appealed Thursday for U.N. member states to work together on an international legal framework that would make social network providers share responsibility for the use of their platforms to spread messages promoting violence.

"There are hate videos, calls for death, propaganda that has not been responded to, and we need to respond,'' Harlem Desir, French state secretary for European affairs, told reporters on the sidelines of a U.N. General Assembly meeting on the rising threat of anti-Semitism.

The French call for a radical shift in the way governments treat social networking companies such as Facebook and Twitter came two weeks after Islamist militants killed 17 people in Paris at a satirical magazine and a kosher supermarket.

"We must limit the dissemination of these messages,'' Desir said. "We must ... establish a legal framework so the Internet platforms, the large companies managing social networking, so that they're called upon to act responsibly.''

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, described Desir's call as an "interesting proposal'' that would have to be discussed with civil society and the private sector. Power also emphasized the importance of protecting free speech.

"We're very alert to the extent to which social media platforms are being exploited by violent extremists across the board, including by al-Qaida and Islamic State,'' Power said.

Desir called for an international conference to discuss the issue, and Power suggested countries should pool their best practices.

Western governments have cited the use of social networks by Islamic State militants to entice young foreign fighters to Syria and Iraq, where government and U.N. officials say they have participated in beheadings, massacres and other war crimes. More French have joined Islamic State than any other nationality.

Michael Roth, German minister of state for Europe, supported France's appeal.

Read the original:
France: Social Media Companies Must Help Stop Violence