( CNN ) -- Easter has passed , and you 've finally finished cleaning the last of that weird basket-lining `` grass '' from the carpet . Beginning Sunday , millions of Americans can also celebrate the resurrection of their foregone vices -- whatever treat or habit they gave up for 40 long days of Lent . After chocolate and fried foods ( pound-droppage is a common additional motive ) , an increasingly popular thing to give up for Lent is Facebook -- anecdotally , at least . Two of our friends tried it this year , and they both reported the break made them pretty darn happy . Collectively , Facebook 's users spend -- wait for it -- 700 billion minutes per month on the site , according to company stats . Assuming the site has 500 million active users ( they 've hit 600 million but have n't updated the time-use stats on their site , so we 're working with what we got -- thanks , Zuckerberg ) , that works out to 23 hours and 20 minutes per person a month -- on average . An entire day , shoom , out the window , into the sunshine that you are not enjoying because you are clicking , zombie-like , through pictures of that chick from grade school looking sweaty in a maternity suite . Now , the debate rages on : Passionate pundits on either end of the arena argue that Facebook is bringing us closer together , or , alternatively , turning us all into socially inept hermits who smell of Cheetos and squint like little voles . But while we ca n't stop the churning tides of new technology , we can decide exactly how much time to devote to staring at glowing screens . And we 'd like to recommend that , at least for a few weeks , you make that screen-time shrink . With the tulips blazing , the birds singing and the spring breeze losing its chill , now just might be the time to take a break , or at least to set some self-limits ( to go from `` in a relationship '' to `` it 's complicated '' with the ol ' FB , if you will . ) Here 's the shocking truth : If you stop using Facebook so often , you wo n't need it so much . See , the whole `` Facebook addict '' trope is n't too far from reality : Recent research in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology suggests that browsing the site is self-reinforcing . Frequent use paradoxically can make us feel disconnected , which we then try to cure by using Facebook even more . In other words , the more you have it , the more you want it . ( File that under `` ways FB is like money and sex . '' ) The upshot -- and this is what my Facebook-eschewing friends reported -- is that after a few days away from the site , you kinda forget to miss it . One said that she 's now back on the site but using it only to check specific things , instead of burning up hours clicking through 483 wedding photos of that dude from high school whose name she otherwise would n't remember . Research backs her up : People are happier when they 're checking up on Facebook friends vs. clicking around without a target , according to a study from the University of Missouri . Just , uh , do n't let that target be a former flame and his or her adorable new significant other . ( Hey , another perk of less Facebook face-time : lower odds of spotting infuriating updates from exes , rivals and frenemies . ) Now , if you 're thinking about closing your profile down for a spell , know that it will be warm and waiting for you when you want to come back . To temporarily hit the `` off '' button , click on Account , then Deactivate . To reactivate the whole thing a week or month down the line , just log in as usual . I hear the protestation , high-pitched and keening : If I 'm not on Faaaacebook , how will I get inviiited to stuuuff ? But recall that one can share events with nonusers by simply typing in their e-mail address under `` Select Guests to Invite . '' Remind your BFFs that you 're Facebook-free and the good ones , at least , will know to pop you onto the invite list to their next Kafka-inspired gallery opening/speed hair-cutting contest . What you will miss is another mass invite to that random guy 's seventh pathetic open mic performance , during which he 'll try a new ending on his jam , `` My Burning Heart Must Be Extinguished . '' Somehow , I think you 'll survive . Now , admittedly , pulling the Facebook plug is not for everyone . To put it on the brown-out back-up generator instead , limit your time on the site . Minutes Please automatically pops you out of a given site after an allotted time . And browser-specific plug-ins can help you keep track of your site usage -- just Google `` [ your browser ] track time on websites . '' By our math , the average user is logging a little more than 45 minutes on Facebook a day . Cut that to 15 and poof ! Like magic , 3.5 hours emerge each week to enjoy the spring -- to play on a playground , soak up the sunshine and run around on the ( real , not blue-ish shredded plastic ) grass .
Facebook 's 500+ million active users spend 700 billion minutes per month on the site . If you stop using Facebook so often , you wo n't need it so much . Comment: