‘Everyone’ is on Facebook Nowadays

“My mom and grandma have definitely ruined Facebook for me”, said Christina Triggs. “Not just them but both of their generations have came in and taken over.”

In todays world, social media has become a huge part of everyday life. Between staying updated on Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram how does anyone have time to do anything else?! With everyone from your high school to your college to your work place posting online it’s hard to keep up everything.

Across the board, from old to young, male to female, African American to Hispanic, everyone is on some form of social media.

The Pew Research Center has gathered some incredible numbers. When you look at 2005 and 2015, the percent of adult social media users has gone up from 7% to 67%. These numbers show for all kinds of social media usage on many different platforms. Such as Facebook.

“Well I remember your mother got a Facebook when your older brother headed off to college”, said the 80 year old Retta Morris. “She said she wanted to stay in-touch with him since he was 5 hours away. Shortly after I decided I wanted to stay in-touch too.”

In the past decade alone internet users have increased across all age groups. What is everyone doing on the internet? Staying in-touch according to Nana.

Don’t just take Nana’s word for it look at the numbers. According to a published article from Yale University, “fifty percent of all Americans now use social media sites like Facebook.”

35% of people older than 65 years are using social media. That is compared to the 2% of 65 year olds in 2005, reported by Pew Research Center.

“I’m on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest”, said Morris. “I think I’m most active on Facebook. Most of my friends (on Facebook) are family. I also have a lot of people from home I follow and people from high school, that are still alive.”

Posting almost daily Morris checks Facebook regularly. “I like to see what your doing in college all way down in Mississippi and your little brother is doing at college in Colorado.”

If your like me you have family scattered across the country. Being friends on Facebook and seeing pictures gives a sense of closeness.

When you ask a Millennial why they have Facebook you might something similar to Triggs. “I don’t really know. Everyone just got a Facebook one day and it just stuck. I don’t use it as much as I use Snapchat but it’s for sure still used.”

The younger people see social media in another light. To express themselves by posting photos and videos. “I don’t think other people really care what I do everyday but I still Snapchat my every move”, said Triggs.

Elders often get nagged for not being up to par with technology. But with this many of them on social media what really are they overcoming to stay connected?

For one, the physical use. The older you are the more issues or illness you will have, but still elders are able to post on Facebook. These people are pushing thru the difficulty to read on a regular basis just to check Facebook. This means their aged eyes have to work in over drive.

Another challenge facing the older crowd, the ability to learn. They didn’t grow up with an iPad in their hand at 10 years old. They are forced to learn the new ways of a computer and phone. Ever hear the phase ‘can’t teach a dog new tricks’? That doesn’t seem to be true based on the huge jumps in older people online.

There is a number of factors that hold elders back from the social media yet here they are.

Looking at the numbers, younger people are always the most common social media users. As stated by Pew Research Center, “Young adults (18 to 29) are the most likely to use social media — 90% do.”

Sure a lot of young people like to keep everyone constantly updated but what about other reasons for the use?

“I use my social media, well some of it, as a form of marketing myself”, said Triggs. “Since I’ve been older I’ve been told to ‘watch what I post’ because my future boss is going to see it.”

Sites like Linkedin have been created as a networking form for people in the work force. “All my teachers encourage us to use Linkedin, which I think we really all do.”

Social media has become a way to brand and market yourself as well as a way to stay in touch.

Social media is the new of way of live. The range of ages across these platforms, like Facebook and Instagram, are telling of our cultures growth. Everyone is trying to keep up with each other. Are you?