Apart from following the bizarre story of the “balloon boy” and keeping up with the overload of assignments that come with the midterm time, something else has been keeping me busy. Yes, it is FarmVille.

But before I lose a portion of my readers by warding them off with my preferences in life, let me make it clear.

I haven’t been wasting away my time playing FarmVille and making friends on it. Instead, for the past few days I’ve been trying to find out what exactly Farmville is and why people are addicted to it.

FarmVille is a popular application on Facebook that allows users to buy virtual land for farming and grow all sorts of crops on it.

The popularity of this game is evident by the number of people who log in everyday to work on their farm and buy virtual goods, all to move up in the rankings.

There should be more to FarmVille than this, because people from all across the world have been swept by this phenomenon.

According to Appdata.com, a Web site that tracks application activity on Facebook, FarmVille has about 60 million active users monthly as of now, making it the most used application on Facebook.

Recently, the developer for FarmVille, Zynga, decided to launch the Indian flag on FarmVille after a huge number of Indian FarmVille users signed a petition on Facebook asking for their flag to be made available, along with the U.S. and a few other countries, on FarmVille, so that the users can mark their territory.

I guess it has become a patriotic issue now, too.

Besides the global appeal of FarmVille, people from all age groups seem to be attracted to it.

It is unbelievable to see housewives use FarmVille to unwind after putting the kids to bed and cleaning up the kitchen.

I have heard stories of relationships getting sour due to FarmVille. A quick search on Twitter about FarmVille would prove to be an eye-opener for all of us.

Frankly, the real reason for researching about FarmVille is that I am quite tired from all those updates on my Facebook page about my friends’ activity on FarmVille.

The frequency of such updates just shows how people are wasting away their time and appreciating a virtual life over reality.

At this point, I am pretty sure that I must have lost several of my readers. However, I do not intend to offend anyone. I don’t mind if people waste all their time on FarmVille and consider it the highlight of their day.

But please, do not flood my Facebook page with your FarmVille updates because I really don’t care if you found a lonely pink cow on your farm, or just attained the level of a Farming Wizard.

There is an option for FarmVille users not to publish their activity on Facebook, but sadly, it is pretty much ignored.

I suppose people feel a certain sense of pride when they receive a ribbon or move up a rank. But do these people actually think about the kind of impression they are leaving on others?

Well, I am not asking one to be a hypocrite by playing FarmVille in secrecy and then bashing it in front of others. On the contrary, I’d say that it is acceptable to play FarmVille once in a while for fun and relaxation.

Alas, it doesn’t stop there. People are getting addicted to it and are skipping out on the whole socialization process that is a part of reality.

FarmVille users would rather spend their whole day planting virtual crops on their land and helping their neighboring farmers, than talk to “real” people.

FarmVille is so addictive because it has been designed that way, making it impossible for the users to get away from tending their crops. Ahem, virtual crops.

If only people spend the same amount of time planting real crops and improving their gardening skills, then they’d actually contribute in making this world a greener place.

Most of the people do not realize the fact that the more time they spend playing FarmVille, the more money Zynga makes from online advertisement revenue.

Simply put, people waste their time so that a certain company can make money. Now how smart is that?

Obviously FarmVille is just a fad that will eventually go away. While I do hope that that time is in the near future, I am also aware that some other application will replace FarmVille and people will start raving about that.

The point in consideration is that it is not specifically FarmVille that is creating a problem; it is the overuse and exploitation of such online applications that lead to social problems and irritable behavior in individuals.

Being addicted to such applications is the same as being addicted to smoking. When a smoker is not able to light a cigarette, he or she gets restless.

Similarly, FarmVille users cannot stay away from their virtual farms for too long.  We all need to remember that addiction of any kind always come back to create problems for the individual.

Therefore it is my humble advice to all the FarmVille users out there that the next time you are watching over your crops and buying virtual decorations for your farm, just remember that you are actually contributing to the profits of a company, and more importantly, you are opting for a virtual, nonexistent life over your real life.

Look around you, maybe there are friends and family that need you more than FarmVille does.