What's happening?

In 2004 Millie Bobby Brown was born and so was Facebook. Eighteen years later is it about to die? One author thinks so and he is happy about it. "The age of social media is ending. It never should have begun," writes Ian Bogost in The Atlantic.

Facebook started in Harvard University as a place to see who was in your class. It is now the third most visited website in the world but people are worried about the problems it causes.

This has led to less people using sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. Many of these sites are losing money and lots of people are no longer using them.

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Some users also feel that social media leads to mental health problems and it is addictive. 

Despite losing money Facebook still has billions of users and TikTok is still making a lot of money so it may be that these sites can keep going for a lot longer.

Yes! Most young people have already moved away from Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If these platforms disappeared then very few people would notice the difference anyway and those who did would see an improvement in their mental health.

No! Social media is how people now find out about what is happening in the world. It has democratised the news and allows us to keep in contact with friends and relatives.