Staff Writer
It turns out, more teens are snapping unflattering selfies via Snapchat and updating their Twitter statuses than trolling Facebook. A recent study indicates that more and more older teens are transitioning from Facebook to other social media networks reports Digital Spy.
Daniel Miller, who worked on a Europe-wide Global Social Media Impact Study, has found that 16 to 18-year-olds in the UK consider Facebook “uncool” and “dead and buried.”
Miller told Digital Spy that Facebook has not just fallen to the sidelines; the social network giant has become “dead and buried.” He claims that teens have actually become embarrassed to take part in Facebook.
“Where once parents worried about their children joining Facebook, the children now say it is their family that insists they stay there to post about their lives,” Miller said.
Teens are turning to social outlets like Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram to seek privacy from their parents, DigitalSpy suggests. This seems ironic considering the public nature of these networks. However, what the problem seems to be, is not privacy from friends and the rest of the world. Rather, the study is suggesting that teens are trying to escape parents who are most likely not familiar with these outlets, as the older generation has apparently become accustomed with Facebook.
“What appears to be the most seminal moment in a young person’s decision to leave Facebook was surely that dreaded day your mom sends you a friend request,” Miller said.
The study shows that a teenager’s biggest concern is parents supervising their activity on Facebook. This supersedes the fear of their information being observed by the government or being used for commercial use. In fact, DigitalSpy reports that 80% of teens in the study suggested that they did not care nor were they concerned with their personal data being available to others.
Miller claims that Facebook has become a link to older family or even siblings in university. He said, “It is nothing new that young people care about style and status in relation to their peers, and Facebook is simply not cool any more.”
Personally, I have my mom, father, uncle, sister, and family friends on my Facebook. I don’t care much about them, or anyone else for that matter, observing my activity on Facebook, or any social media to be honest. Then again, I am on not on Facebook often, so I have little to hide. Did I just prove Miller’s point? I think so. For me, like the many in the study, Facebook is just a link to people who I am far away from. It is no longer something I feel the need to update often.
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