Facebook is so 2010

It isn't surprising to Grandma Coughlin (not literally, I'M NOT A GRANDMA) that fewer and fewer teenagers are using Facebook, at least according to this article from The Guardian. I know this in part because my twelve-year-old daughter has never asked me for a Facebook. She has, however, asked me if she could sign up for the following:

• An Instagram account
• A Kik account
• A Snapchat account
• A Vine account
• A Creepy Older-Man-Friend-Catcher account
• A Capture Your Private Information And Let It Simmer Online For The Rest of Your Life Account

I let her have an Instagram, but that's it. She has no interest in Facebook and sees it as a place where old people like me and her aunts and uncles hang out--which it is.

The article cites a study that polled teenagers between the ages of 16 and 18 who live in European countries, but the results would probably be the same in the Unites States. Teenagers like what is trendy and edgy--and with everyone and Quinn's mom on Facebook...Facebook isn't it.

It's not surprising to me that teenagers gravitate towards sites that are image-driven (like Instagram and Vine) because to me, Facebook is a place to read about what people are doing, and to gather links to interesting news articles. Those are not activities that many teenagers would seek out. They like the shocking ugliness of a Snapchat from their best friend or to be tagged in an Instagram photo with someone cool doing something cool when the rest of the world is at home doing something lame. Like reading Facebook?