I’m 15 and I still use Facebook

The following is a guest post by Hailey Taylor, high school student, Southern California.

I’m fifteen years old and I still use Facebook and so do my friends. Never mind the many articles you’ll read that say Facebook is no longer relevant to teens — that’s not true. Maybe what the older generation meant to say was that Facebook is no longer the only choice. That’s the funny and consistent thing about people my age, we’re famous throughout history as the group that won’t automatically adopt the likes and dislikes of people older than us. For that reason, we use a variety of applications based on what we’re looking to do.

Facebook is still a great place to ask homework questions and find study guides on pages created for each of my classes. My fellow students are found on Facebook but so are my parents and their friends. That isn’t necessarily a negative, but Facebook isn’t the best for everything, which is why we use several other sites.

Google+ is where I collaborate with my friends using Google Docs. We check each other’s work there and use hangouts when two or more people want to video chat with each other.

Instagram puts focus on pictures of people and landscapes that are easy to browse. It also offers a great way to follow famous people because their posts are more personal than Facebook, which is focused on promotion.

Twitter is where we follow famous people, similar to Instagram, but where they talk about what they had for breakfast or any other thoughts throughout the day.

YouTube is more than a place to share videos. It’s the place to go together with friends to discover great videos from individuals we’ve never met and our favorite artists. We have running conversations about what we find.

Vine is like an intense, shorthand version of YouTube.

Snapchat is texting via pictures, with the added ability to be stupid.

Tumblr was a great community until it was purchased by Yahoo. We miss the way David Karp interacted with everyone and it certainly isn’t the same knowing Marissa Mayer took over. There’s a feeling that Yahoo will destroy Tumblr and we’d rather get out early than invest in something likely to change. I’ll still browse it but my investment level is down significantly.

So don’t believe everything you read about teenagers and Facebook. It is the dinner table of social media and we all mind our manners and stay polite (mostly).

We’re still on Facebook and don’t plan to leave anytime soon. Just know that unless Facebook offers us the same benefits as the other sites I’ve mentioned, we’re unlikely to make it our sole destination.

We’re stubborn teenagers, after all.