For several months now I've set myself the rule that I only access FB from home; I've broken this rule only rarely and it's been remarkably successful at toning down the constant-checking behaviour---even when I'm at home. Because I've broken the "24-hour-IV-feed" nature of it, I've found that even when I have access to it I tend to spend a little while, check my updates, read a few things off the top of the feed, and then log out. And then I do other things.
Very helpful, and a nice compromise that stops short of "quitting facebook".
My rule is to only use Facebook on my iPad. I typically do all my work on my laptop so when I'm on my iPad I can be sure it's leisure time. I would probably put HN in the same category but I can't stop commenting on everything that's remotely relevant to me and I hate typing on the iPad.
My rule is to use Facebook three times a day for twenty minutes each. I'm not addicted to FB, but this helps me stay away from long chats I may get into with friends. I get shit done with this method and I rarely break this rule.
What can you possibly accomplish on Facebook for 7 hours a week? I can understand the needed distraction here and there or the defined communication with friends but really?*
I'll stop my inflammatory rant because I'm going to assume you're a reasonably smart cookie because you're here. But really?
*for a 6 month personal experiment I deactivated my FB account and defriended, 2% of current friends per reactivation (17 times each under an hour) and could argue that I still have a top 5% social life.
A lot of my time is dedicated to messaging (which is handy because a lot of my friends use FB more than texting), and I also occasionally read through and comment on wall posts.
Very helpful, and a nice compromise that stops short of "quitting facebook".