Today’s teens WILL join…

by Sophia Wooden ’20

Facebook might not seem necessary to teenagers, but as they grow older, they are bound to download the application. Facebook has so many different features that facilitates greater connection between people near and far. I admit, when I was younger, I thought that Facebook was weird and outdated, too. But now, approaching legal adulthood, I find myself and my peers checking the social media site every day.

During many students’ senior years, after they are accepted into a university, they commonly decide to join the college’s Facebook group to introduce themselves and talk to other potential students. This is also the main way students decide who they want to choose as their roommates. Also, months before the senior prom, the majority of attendees form a Facebook group so that they can share their dresses. The purpose of this is to prevent any matching incidents the day of. After creating accounts for these purposes, most seniors choose to keep the application and occasionally update it for family members and friends on it as well. Now on Facebook you can even watch TV shows through Facebook Watch. A popular Facebook Watch TV show is “Red Table Talk” with Jada Pinkett Smith, her daughter Willow Smith, and her mother Adrienne Banfield-Norris, where they hash out serious issues with celebrities. Whether it is used for forming connections to other people/groups or used for entertainment, Facebook inevitably will be something that most of today’s teens will join in adulthood.

Today’s teens WILL NOT join…

by Jimmy Yates ’21

My parents, my distant relatives, and even my grandparents use Facebook. However, my siblings and I do not use Facebook. Out of all my friends, the few who use Facebook only use it for academic purposes such as communicating with colleges. Even my family only uses it to communicate with each other because they are spread out across the country.

Teens have enough social media as it is with Snapchat, Instagram, VSCO, and TikTok. Facebook is essentially the same as these by acting as a platform to share photos with captions and message with others. Facebook has nothing that excites teens or has instant massive success like TikTok did after teens got their hands on it. Facebook’s future is not secure because the majority of people that use it are above 30 and the younger generations, including ours, use other social media apps instead. As the older generations pass, Facebook will no longer be able to compete with the rising social media apps that are popular among our generation and those to follow.