$200 to quit Facebook: One dad's deal with his daughter

$200 to quit Facebook? Would you agree to quit Facebook for five months if it meant that you got a nice payday?

Interested in $200 to quit Facebook? 

The social network has been shown to lower productivity, make us more self-indulgent, and fan the flames of envy. But it's also incredibly hard to turn off, as the approximately 1 billion Facebook users around the world would be happy to tell you. How to quit? 

Well, some subtle financial encouragement might work. Just ask Paul Baier, an executive at an energy company in Massachusetts. Earlier this month, Baier agreed to compensate his daughter, 14-year-old Rachel Baier, to the tune of $200, if she could stay away from Facebook for a full five months. The $200, according to the contract, which is pictured above, is payable in two monthly installments: $50 on April 15, 2013, and the balance on June 26, 2013. 

"It was her idea," Baier told the tech site The Daily Dot. "She wants to earn money and also finds Facebook a distraction and a waste of time sometimes. She plans to go back on after the [five months] is over."

Catch that? Rachel doesn't have to quit Facebook forever. She just has to take a break, during which time she can presumably buy some of the "stuff" stipulated in her "Facebook Deactivation Agreement." 

Of course, as PC World's Angela Moscaritolo points out, there are more permanent solutions to the Facebook problem. Consider the case of Tommy Jordan, the North Carolina native who put a bullet in his daughter's laptop after he caught her complaining about her chores on Facebook. (Tommy and Hannah Jordan have since called a truce, with 15-year-old Hannah saying she and her dad were "laughing about [the incident] soon afterwards.") 

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