(Photo by ROBIN WORRALL on Unsplash)
If the many scandals surrounding Facebook that have cropped up in the last year have inspired you to change your security settings, take a break from the social network, or delete the app from your phone entirely, you’re not alone.
A new study from the Pew Research Center found that in the last year, 74 percent of all adults on Facebook have taken at least one of these actions.
Perhaps even more significantly, the data also show that close to half of “younger” users (between ages 18 and 29) have removed the app from their phones all together.
In fact, the data show that younger users have deleted the app in larger numbers than every other age group. While 44 percent of those under 30 reported deleting the app, only 27 percent of users between the age of 30 and 49, and a mere 12 percent of users 65 and older reported having done the same.
Users under 30 were also the most likely to have adjusted their privacy settings or taken a break “for several weeks or more” from the social media site, compared to every other age group.
“One of the big takeaways from this research is that young Facebook users are very active at managing their profiles and overall usage in various ways… At the same time, they are still quite connected to the platform. Around half of younger users say they visit multiple times per day, which is ten points higher than the share of older users who visit with that frequency,” said said Aaron Smith, Associate Director of Research at the Center, referring to another study regarding social media use published back in March.
Representatives at Facebook have not yet responded to Youth Radio’s request for comment.
The findings are based on a survey of 4,594 Americans over 18, which was conducted only two months after it was revealed that Facebook allowed analytics company Cambridge Analytica to harvest the personal data of 87 million Facebook users.
The scandal inspired the hashtag #DeleteFacebook to go viral on several social media platforms, and ultimately resulted in CEO Mark Zuckerberg appearing before Congress to explain.
Despite Zuckerberg’s Capitol Hill apology tour, a series of full-page newspaper ads, and a handful of other marketing campaigns meant to earn back users’ trust, Facebook hasn’t bounced back since.