Are there any other teens living without a facebook account?

[cave canem]

besides mine?

[elegantlion]

Mine does not want one on principle. I use mine probably too much. 

[PeterPan]

Absolutely.  I have no clue why I'd put her into a cesspool of problems like that.  Any stupid thing the kid posts is out there forever.  Why do that to them when they have no judgment and no need?

 

Besides, isn't FB passee and only for old people now?  I was just reading something about businesses realizing their efforts to get likes, etc. don't necessarily translate into more customers.  My dd skypes with her friends and emails.  I just don't see a need for anything beyond that.

[SadieMarie]

We have one here too :hurray:

[Tiramisu]

We didn't let dd have a facebook account until she was in her senior year of high school. Then we let her do it in preparation for the future when she would be completely independent with things like that. I'm glad we waited.

 

 

[Kfamily]

My teen does not have an account. She has a blog, an email account, a pinterest board and an ipad she shares with her younger sister. We will be getting her a phone when she begins to drive.

[marbel]

My kids have accounts but don't use them.  Some of the groups they're in use them for mass communication so it's good to have.  They receive email notification of such messages so they aren't logging in all the time. 

 

My daughter says she is just tired of it.  She doesn't like the mindless things so many people post.  She doesn't like feeling pressured to respond to or "like" something she doesn't particularly like (but doesn't want to hurt someone's feelings). 

 

But I didn't know facebook is passe.  I thought email was for old people! 

[Night Elf]

All 3 of my children have accounts but they don't use them. They just aren't interested.

[Just Another Jen]

My daughter is a hold out. She skypes her friends.

[CupOCoffee]

My teen and pre-teen do not have FB.  Way too many reasons to list.  They don't have phones, or i-anything either, so no texting...neither of them has even asked.

 

~coffee~

[Catwoman]

My ds has no interest.

[MariannNOVA]

My kids are not interested in fb.

[PrincessMommy]

my pre-teen does not have one.  Other kids do.  However, my sister's daughter (15) does not have one.   She has instagram or Twitter (can't remember), but not FB.

 

[dhudson]

Neither my teen nor my pre-teens have them.

[Cindy in FL.]

I have 4 teens right now and none have FB accounts. They appear to be faring pretty well without them!

[Mothersweets]

Your teens are not alone!! I have 5 teens and none of them have a fb account.

[nevergiveup]

Two boys here:  18 and 20.

 

No Facebook.

No Skype.

No Smartphone.

No Twitter.

No Xbox or gaming.

 

They email their grandparents once in awhile, but that is pretty much it.  They are pretty square.

[Liz CA]

I am so glad to see that there are a few kids out there who have not signed up yet or are not using their accounts. I see so much junk going on with FB, I want to curse it sometime. Like everything, it can be used constructively but it seems this medium, in particular, has more often been used in abusive ways.

[teachermom2834]

Most of the teens I  know do not use FB.  But, really, that is because they prefer Instagram and Twitter.  So, while most teens do NOT use FB in my world they are on the others. 

[MIch elle]

Soon to be 20yob deleted his, which was rarely used, when he was 18.  Soon to be 17yob still has a FB acct. but tells me FB is passe - everyone is on Twitter and other social media (don't ask me which ones).

[marbel]

Interesting about Instagram. My daughter used it for a while when it was new.  She said it was a fun site for photography.  Now she says it's worse than facebook and deleted her account.

[Pawz4me]

My youngest has never been interested.  Oldest has one, but I don't think he ever checks it any more.  Facebook is very uncool amongst the teen set now.  They're all on Twitter, Instagram and Snap Chat.

 

ETA:  I don't have a FB account, either.  I've never had any interest at all in it.  That may have had some influence on youngest DS.

[I talk to the trees]

Dd and her best buddy are strongly anti-facebook, and that's just fine with me!

[DawnM]

Neither of my teens wants one.

 

I have one.

[Liz CA]

Just wanted to clarify that I am not categorically opposed to any social media but I think it's plain wrong that FB does not allow deletions or edits. It should be more like a blog page, where people can upload things and take them down again. So many kids don't realize the magnitude of internet posting, and to make a program that makes it extremely difficult or impossible to delete is just asking for trouble. How many adults on this board delete things after they posted? Of course, young people will post things they wish they could take back. The sad thing is that kids have committed suicide over FB entries.

[Joker]

Just wanted to clarify that I am not categorically opposed to any social media but I think it's plain wrong that FB does not allow deletions or edits. It should be more like a blog page, where people can upload things and take them down again. So many kids don't realize the magnitude of internet posting, and to make a program that makes it extremely difficult or impossible to delete is just asking for trouble. How many adults on this board delete things after they posted? Of course, young people will post things they wish they could take back. The sad thing is that kids have committed suicide over FB entries.

 

I've never had a problem editing or deleting things on Facebook.

 

My teen dd doesn't use FB, but she and her friends are on Instagram. I monitor her account as we are friends on there and I haven't seen anything bad. A few of her friends do not have private accounts so there have been a few times she has asked them to remove a picture of her but that's the worst that has happened.

[LibraryLover]

I've never had a problem editing or deleting things on Facebook.

 

 

 

 

FB allows for deletes and editing.  I have a friend who washes his wall weekly. 

[Lizzie in Ma]

Eldest has one, youngest could care less.  They both use Steam chat with gaming friends I approve.  Eldest also has Pinterest, youngest occasionally browses mine. 

 

[KungFuPanda]

My teens have FB, but have already phased out of using it. They are dutifully posting highlights to amuse the geezers at this point. Both of their grandmothers have FB accounts, so it's a good place to put photos and videos.

[Liz CA]

I've never had a problem editing or deleting things on Facebook.

 

My teen dd doesn't use FB, but she and her friends are on Instagram. I monitor her account as we are friends on there and I haven't seen anything bad. A few of her friends do not have private accounts so there have been a few times she has asked them to remove a picture of her but that's the worst that has happened.

 

Interesting. I am not a user but always heard that it was difficult to delete posts. Have there been recent changes to this? If people always had the ability to edit, then why are they not using it or get distraught over posts they made? Not being sarcastic, but just inquisitive since I don't use it but hear a lot of young people fret about it.

[Joker]

Interesting. I am not a user but always heard that it was difficult to delete posts. Have there been recent changes to this? If people always had the ability to edit, then why are they not using it or get distraught over posts they made? Not being sarcastic, but just inquisitive since I don't use it but hear a lot of young people fret about it.

 

I don't remember a time when I couldn't delete things. I know being able to edit is a bit new; before you could just delete and start over.

[LibraryLover]

Interesting. I am not a user but always heard that it was difficult to delete posts. Have there been recent changes to this? If people always had the ability to edit, then why are they not using it or get distraught over posts they made? Not being sarcastic, but just inquisitive since I don't use it but hear a lot of young people fret about it.

 

Because people don't know they can delete?  Not new.  Editing is new. You don't have to delete and start over for spelling errors, typos etc.

 

 

[QueenCat]

Just wanted to clarify that I am not categorically opposed to any social media but I think it's plain wrong that FB does not allow deletions or edits. It should be more like a blog page, where people can upload things and take them down again.

 

I can edit my own posts and I can delete my own posts. I don't ever remember not being able to do so.

[livetoread]

Interesting. I am not a user but always heard that it was difficult to delete posts. Have there been recent changes to this? If people always had the ability to edit, then why are they not using it or get distraught over posts they made? Not being sarcastic, but just inquisitive since I don't use it but hear a lot of young people fret about it.

To be dramatic?

 

Seriously, what I tell my kids is that even if you go back and edit or delete, someone may have copied or shared your first one, even in a short amount of time. Once it's out there, it may very well be out there! So think carefully the first time.

[swellmomma]

My kids have accounts because that is how they get information for cadets etc, it's the corps way of doing mass communication, it is also one of the only ways their father will have contact with them.  So they have accounts but only check them 1-2 times a week if that.  They do not have twitter or instagram.  DD is generally on quotetv these days writing and posting stories and reading others, so nothing related to her rl. DS spends most of his freetime on XBOX live playing and talking with others so no need for fb I guess.

As for edits and deletions, fb has always allowed this as long as I have had an account.  The only thing you can't do is edit your original post, you have to delete and repost if you want to make a change to it, total pita for typos.  But you can edit all your other posts within a thread, and you can delete any of your posts. 

[PuddleJumper1]

Dd (almost 15) does not have FB (by our choice but she's not interested). She does e-mail with some friends and keeps a blog of her writings.

 

My 19 yr old set up a FB page before leaving for college. He keeps up with high school friends and college goings-on.

 

I have FB only to keep up with online resposibilities for volunteer work and only set that up in the last 6 months or so. We're not a FB family.

[PeterPan]

You can edit your posts, yes, but I've read that images are a LOT harder to get out of the system.  Kids can do really dumb things with cameras, things they wouldn't want haunting them years later when they try to get a job, etc.  I have a ps teacher friend who won't do FB *at all* because she sees so many people getting fired over it.  Might be crazy, but there definitely are concerns.

[LibraryLover]

Exactly. Photos are the real issue.

[MysteryJen]

None of my teens have one. Dd1 was going to get one, but changed her mind because "it just seemed like a lot of work."

 

It seems a bit out of style now anyway. Instagram and Snapchat seem to be what people are doing now.

[Guest]

Mine do not and will not. 

[Tiramisu]

Interesting about Instagram. My daughter used it for a while when it was new.  She said it was a fun site for photography.  Now she says it's worse than facebook and deleted her account.

 

We deleted one dc's Instagram account as well. We misunderstood what it was and thought it was a private sharing circle between friends, so that part was our fault. 

 

There was a situation near us where a young man was found to have thousands of photos of child p**n where he put the faces of local pre-teens and teens onto the pictures. I immediately thought of my dd's pre-teen friends with Instagram accounts and thousands of anonymous followers. Scary.

[tampamommy]

You're not alone.

[TechWife]

Not here - no Facebook, twitter or instagram.

[hillfarm]

As with many others, my 15yo dd has a FB account but doesn't use it as much anymore, preferring Instagram and Snap Chat, also Skype.

 

However, I would have to say that having access to some sort of social media has made life much easier for her. Most of the youth organizations she has joined send out announcements via social media. I have seen how difficult it is to include one particular friend in various activities because he is not on any social media. Having to call his home phone and leave messages definitely has resulted in him often missing invites and has made it more difficult for us to include him in activities that the rest of the group of friends are doing.

 

I used to spend hours on the phone with my teen friends, which has made me realize that social media is my dd's way of doing the same thing. So far, we have not had any drama via it that I didn't also experience with my "dinosaur" technology - the princess phone :lol: ! The primary difference I can see is that it tends to linger, and yes, things like bad choices regarding photos released can stick around to haunt a person for a long time. However, I also am seeing an element of truth and accountability in it. A teen can't get away with telling lies about what they didn't say or where they didn't go or do because it is likely that someone will have specific evidence to the contrary. Constantly being "plugged in" does come with some down sides, and IMO, it is important for teens to fully understand that.

[G5052]

I have one that I use professionally, and that's it in our household.  We discouraged the DC, and they're happy enough emailing, texting, and talking on the phone.  Both are with friends sledding this afternoon.  So much for being unsocialized because we don't have Facebook.

 

[ThatHomeschoolDad]

No facebook here. The faculty at DW's school gets this online safety course from the local district attorney and county sex offense cops, showing just how easy, and quickly, it is to be compromised online. Even the owners of DD's dance studio (he's a retired cop) say nope...not worth it.

[rmtzc2009]

Interesting. I am not a user but always heard that it was difficult to delete posts. Have there been recent changes to this? If people always had the ability to edit, then why are they not using it or get distraught over posts they made? Not being sarcastic, but just inquisitive since I don't use it but hear a lot of young people fret about it.

 

 

I've deleted stuff for as long as I can remember -I don't know how long I've had a Facebook account but I'm thinking 3+ years.  Not only can I delete stuff I post but you can delete stuff if someone else posts something you don't want on your page.  

 

The only reason I can think of people being distraught over posts they made is this:  Once you post it goes into the news feed of all your friends.  Even if you go back and delete it it's likely that someone or possibly many people have already read the post.  

[redsquirrel]

I thought all the teens and young adults were on instagram, snapchat, and twitter. Facebook is where their parents hang out, so not much facebook for them.  My niece and nephew are both in college and have never used email. Facebook is for communication with professors and classes and for mass notification for activities etc. They view their facebook page as something seen by prospective employers etc. It is their public face. They stopped communicating with friends via facebook back when they were in high school.

[Chris in VA]

Soon to be 14 yo not getting on any social media until she's at least a Jr in high school. Just a rule around here. Some things, we wait for.

We're old fogies (is that the plural of fogey?)--she had to wait for pierced ears, she'll have to wait to date, etc.

[J-rap]

Well my two oldest didn't get one until they were in college.  Now all five of my children have one but they barely use it.  They just aren't too interested.  Sometimes they use it to send links to each other -- interesting news articles, etc., but that's about all.   My son is more in the business world these days so he likes to be extra careful.