I’m 13 and none of my friends use Facebook

I’m a teen living in New York, Mashable reports. All of my friends have social networks — Instagram, Vine, Snapchat, etc. Facebook used to be all I could talk about when I was younger. “Mom, I want a Facebook!” and other whining only a mother could put up with. But now, at 13, I’ve been noticing something different. Facebook is losing teens lately, and I think I know why. Part of the reason Facebook is losing my generation’s attention is the fact that there are other networks now. When I was 10, I wasn’t old enough to have a Facebook. But a magical thing called Instagram had just come out … and our parents had no idea there was an age limit. Rapidly, all my friends got Instagrams…

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New: 20 facts about teens, Facebook, and Twitter

By now, educators and parents are aware that teens use Facebook and Twitter extensively, but a new study delves deeper into the specifics of how teens are using social media and what the experience means to them.

Conducted by the PEW Internet and American Life Project, the snapshot of teen social media use aggregates data from over 800 surveys of teens in a nationally representative group.

And though it’s common knowledge that issues such as privacy and safety are large concerns for teens when using the internet, some of the statistics from the PEW report, especially when discussing different races and genders, may surprise you.…Read More

Study: Teens Facebook their way through class

Paying attention? A new study finds that 94 percent of Israeli high school students surf social media sites during class, LiveScience reports. The students are accessing these sites through their cell phones, according to the study conducted by University of Haifa researchers, and only 4 percent said they never pulled their phones out during class.

“Based on our findings, there is almost no moment during any class when some pupil isn’t using their cell phone,” the researchers said in a statement. The majority of Israeli teens have cell phones, according to political science professor Itali Beeri and pre-doctoral student Dana Daniel, who conducted the study. In the United States, smartphone use is also high: 31 percent of 14- to 17-year-olds have their own smartphone, according to a 2012 Pew Research Center Report.

Likewise, teens the world over love social media. Nearly three-quarters, or 73 percent, of teens who use the Internet have at least one social network account such as Facebook or Twitter, according to a 2010 Pew survey……Read More