Martine Rolls: Breaking Facebook's hold on my life

A Facebook page on Gorinchem in the Netherlands became addictive.

At the moment I feel a little over-committed - but that's entirely my own fault.

For the first time in my life, I have managed my time really badly.

So what have I been doing? I have been wasting time on Facebook. I've wasted so much time on it that I even risked missing some important deadlines, and that's not like me at all.

Then one morning, after about two weeks of being glued to Facebook, I woke up, looked at all the work I had to do and hadn't even researched yet, and realised it had to stop.

I put my smart phone and iPad in the bedroom, just so I wouldn't get tempted to go back on Facebook, and got on top of the work.

I even had to pull an all-nighter or two to get things done, but at least I did it.

I am trying my hardest to stay off the social network from now on but without great success. I can't stop myself from having a regular peek.

The page I've become addicted to is called "Oud Gorinchem" and people post old photos and anecdotes on it. Gorinchem is the small town where I grew up. It's a beautiful little city of about 35,000 people that was founded about the year 1000.

Lots of history there, and lots of it made its way to the Facebook page.

First, the page made me homesick, then it brought back a whole bunch of memories good and bad, and then the friend requests and private messages started coming in.

I began to reconnect with people I haven't seen since primary school. That led to hours and hours of chatting and browsing around their Facebook photo albums.

We are even in the process of getting everyone together for a reunion in August which makes it even more important for me to stay on top of my workload.

I will need some extra money to fund the flight over.

SPEAKING of memories, I recall a party at my mum and dad's house when I was about 8 years old and I offered to help clean up and took all the empty cups and glasses to the kitchen. Curious as I was, or naughty, I thought it would be interesting to try the tiny bits of liqueur, wine and sherry that were left in the bottom of the glasses. There was quite a selection and it was the first time I got very, very drunk.

My poor parents didn't know what was wrong with me when I started talking incoherently, became very loud, and started staggering around the room with a silly grin on my face.

That particular memory wasn't brought back up by Facebook, though. I

t was the video of the boy from Hamilton who celebrated his 9th birthday at a skatepark with a box of Codys. Most New Zealanders would have seen the clip by now.

Police asked Google to remove the video from YouTube after the man who shot and uploaded the footage refused to take it down.

The video was reported as inappropriate and removed, but soon reposted. It was also still freely available online after being copied and shared elsewhere. It didn't take long to go viral.

Kids do dumb things, but isn't it the parent's job to keep them safe? This boy is not a teenager. He is only 9 years old. This sort of stuff makes me feel sick.

The boy, who drank eight cans of 7 per cent Codys and two shots, claimed he got the alcohol from an "aunty" although inquiries showed the woman was not related to him.

A man in his 20s also seen drinking at the skatepark on the video tells the person filming the incident that everything was fine "because we're Maori bro".

It doesn't matter what ethnicity you are, mate.

There is something seriously wrong about any adult thinking that it's fun to get a child drunk.

Most people will be aware that children risk brain damage or even death if they are exposed to binge-drinking.

The young man who filmed the incident and posted it on YouTube is the only person who can be heard on the video who seems to care about the child's well-being. The only good thing about this whole saga is that it has sparked the community to life with a home-grown plan to bring fun, games and positive vibes back to the park.

And I can only hope that it has encouraged parents to keep a closer eye on their children. There's no need to wrap them up in cotton wool but, please, keep them safe.