Facebook not ready for ‘Roger and Out’ just yet

An academic study looking at social media sites has characterised Facebook as an “uncool uncle” suffering from a “mid-life crisis”.

Mid-life crisis seems a bit harsh, as Facebook is barely into its teens, although maybe this is more of a comment on the average lifespan of social media sites. In a way, Facebook has done well to last as long as it has.

I remember once casually dismissing this alldominant platform as the modern equivalent of CB radio, which was briefly popular with younger people in the early 1980s. A few boys at my school had their own ‘rigs’ from which to communicate with complete strangers from the safety of their bedrooms and use phrases like ‘roger and out’ (which sounded strange coming from an 11-yearold, even when you were also 11 years old).

Occasionally my friends would arrange an ‘eyeball’ - an appointment to meet - with said strangers, which was incredibly dubious in retrospect and probably didn’t end well in some cases.

While it has been a longer-lasting fad among younger people, Facebook’s popularity with the under 30s does appear to be on the wane. In the interest of balance, Facebook was also described as ‘clean’ and ‘professional’, although these are not always endearing traits to the young and rebellious.

There appear to be enough middle-aged people to sustain Facebook for a few more years.

There are certainly plenty of people my age to complain about bin collections, Brexit, or the way someone spoke to their daughter in a shop to keep Mark Zuckerberg living in comfort for a few more years. Or maybe these are just the kind of people who count as my Facebook ‘friends’. Presumably young people are friends mainly with other young people, so can largely avoid mid-life whingeing, just as I’m able to avoid news about the private lives leading YouTubers. However, the prospect of their parents gatecrashing the party and making embarrassing comments must pose an ever-present danger.

This was never a problem with CB radio. Time for a comeback maybe? Roger and out.