Facebook fatigue: Users take time off

People plan to spend fewer hours on the site this year, according to a new study.

By Kim Peterson

Facebook (FB 0.00%) can be a little much at times. OK, a lot much.There are the privacy concerns. The shady advertising hijinks. The constant notifications. The relentless onslaught of news feed items, from mundane observations to jokes that really aren't that funny. It's no surprise, then, that Facebook fatigue is setting in. A new study shows that people are starting to stray from the social network. About 27% of Facebook users are planning to spend less time on the site this year, while only 3% plan to spend more time, according to the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project. (You can read the key findings here.)Facebook is still the dominant social network in America, with some two-thirds of adults who are online using the site. But 61% of current Facebook users have taken a break from the site for at least several weeks. Here are the main reasons they left:

• Too busy, didn't have time

• Just wasn't interested

• Found it a waste of time

• Too much gossip and drama

• Site was a time suck

Is this the beginning of the end for Facebook? Not really. People go in cycles with their interests. They'll pop on toTwitter for a while, or rediscover book reading on their Kindles. They'll find a television show they like and immerse themselves in previous episodes. Facebook is branching out to try and catch that wayward user. That's one of the reasons it bought Instagram, for example. And it's looking at other ways to stay relevant outside of its home page. So go ahead and quit Facebook for a while. You'll be back. The company is counting on it.