I saw a TikTok recently about how elder millennials still predominantly use Facebook to communicate online and I thought, ‘is that true?’ To find out, I conducted a very scientific experiment (read: Instagram poll) in my lab (read: Stories). I asked my 1,500+ Instagram followers a series of yes or no questions regarding how they use, or don’t use, Facebook. Here’s what I found out.

The Questions

Do you have a Facebook account/profile?

• Yes: 93%

• No: 7%

What generation are you?

• Millennial: 65%

• X: 35%

When you have news or a life update, where do you share it?

• Instagram: 82%

• Facebook: 18%

Do you post things on Facebook that you don’t post on Instagram?

• No: 64%

• Yes: 36%

Do you use Facebook because of kids and/or family?

• Yes: 70%

• No: 30%

Why do you use Facebook?

• I received over 50 responses, all of which fell into one of the following categories:

  • older family members

  • for work

  • groups and marketplace

  • kids’ school

  • friends who aren’t on Instagram

  • required for some of the Instagram business functions

  • funerals and memorials.

It’s interesting, isn’t it? What I didn’t share, but what almost everyone put in their response is how much they loathe Facebook, but feel like they have to use it. What a chokehold this has on all of us. I’m not making any big philosophical point. It’s just interesting that we all use something we hate.

I joined Facebook in 2007-2008 because it was new (to adults). Everyone was using it and it felt fun. It felt like connection. Did that change during the 2016 election cycle, or did it change when all of our parents got on there? I don’t know. I started dipping out in 2014, taking months-long Facebook breaks, which you can hilariously read about here:

I Went Off Facebook And Lived To Tell About It

Seriously, go read that, and sit with the knowledge that I wrote that in 2014. In case you’re as bad at math as I am, that was 7 years ago. You guys, we all hated Facebook 7 years ago. We’ve just forgotten that it’s always been this bad.

******

As I get older, I want to be less public online, and I want a lot more control around who has access to me and my time. I haven’t figured out if that means a private Instagram account, a finsta, or turning off people’s ability to respond to my Instagram stories (which I’ve done and highly recommend if you also have mental illness and can’t deal with leaving 35 “ha has” on read every day). Anyway, I don’t know what the answer is for me, but you’ll know when I know. Well, unless I disappear altogether and you’re not one of the 10 people I tell about my finsta.