Parents taking over Facebook leads to teens switching off the app
FACEBOOK is no longer considered cool by Australian teens with its popularity among youngsters plummeting significantly in two years. The survey also revealed a shocking number of teens who have sent or received a nude photo via social media.
NSW
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FACEBOOK is no longer considered cool by Australian teens with its popularity among youngsters plummeting 70 per cent in two years.
A new survey of 800 Australians aged 13-18 has revealed just 11.57 per cent say the Mark Zuckerberg site is their most used app — a dramatic decline from two years ago when it was ranked number one.
Meanwhile, Instagram and Snapchat’s popularity is soaring, with more than half of teens saying Instagram is their most used app and about one in four saying they use Snapchat the most.
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Best Enemies director Ross Bark, who runs cyber-safety courses in NSW schools, conducted the research and said teens no longer wanted to be on Facebook because it had been taken over by their parents.
“They want to use apps where they’re not going to be monitored,” Mr Bark said.
“Even on Instagram a lot of teens have two accounts; one which they get their family members to follow and another where they’ll be … posting risqué content.”
The survey results also revealed teenagers are continuing to use social media to share naked photos with one in five saying they had sent a nude photo and 40 per cent saying they had received a nude.
One in 10 said they had a photo shared without their consent and 70 per cent said they had posted something online they wished they could delete.
Teenagers who participated in the survey also wrote about being bullied after naked or embarrassing photos had been shared without their consent.
“I sent a nude to my ex-boyfriend and he showed everyone that photo and people started to call me snapslut,” one participant said. Another wrote: “My mates always share videos of me I don’t want other people to see because I feel I’d get judged but I can’t stop them from doing it so it just happens.”
Mr Bark said while teachers and parents generally had the perception teenage boys were circulating naked photos of their female peers, it was actually teenage girls spreading the photos in most cases.
“Often it is girls doing to other girls … they share a lot of things with one another, but if there’s a falling out they will take revenge online by sharing photos or photoshopping images,” Mr Bark said.
“I don’t think teachers and parents are across this, they’re aware that young people are sharing nudes but the lack of consent around that is not quite as well known.”
Dundas teenager Taylor Angelo, 19, who won an award this year for a short film about social media and honesty, said teenagers needed to be more aware about the ramifications of their online behaviour.
“You can’t just go and bully someone just because they can’t see your face,” she said.