Father Gives Daughter $200 to Quit Facebook for Five Months
Feb. 7, 2013 — -- Spending too much time on Facebook? More than half of Facebook users say they've taken vacations from the site. Now comes the story of a 14-year-old who did better -- she managed to get paid for quitting.
Rachel Baier, a high school freshman in Massachusetts, went to her dad with a deal: no Facebook for the rest of the school year in exchange for cash.
"She approached me. She has been frustrated she hasn't been able to find a babysitting job and she has been looking for ways to get cash," Baier told ABC News. "So she asked, 'If I didn't use Facebook for so long would you pay me?'"
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Baier, knowing that his daughter spends hours and hours on the site every day, thought she was joking at first. "I said, 'Go away, you can't live without Facebook!'" But Rachel was serious. Her dad drew up the paperwork. "I went back and thought about it, and said if you are going to do it, we are going to sign a contract. And she said okay."
The contract says that from Feb. 4, 2013 through June 26, 2013, Rachel will have her Facebook account deactivated. She will receive $50 halfway through and the remaining $150 on June 26, which is the last day of ninth grade.
Baier says that he thinks his daughter will keep her part of the bargain. "She has deactivated a few times for the weekend," he said "She has spent two to three years on Facebook for 24/7, she realizes there is a lot of talk and noise."
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Rachel, who was at school when we spoke to her father, told him she doesn't worry about being left out by friends.
"I asked her about that. She said, 'Dad, I see my friends at school. I am in the loop and I can still text them,'" Baier said.
But even if Rachel does have a moment of weakness and yearn to see her Newsfeed, her dad now holds the keys to the castle. "Part of the agreement," he says "was that she allowed me to change the password. She can't get back in and turn it back on."
