My fingers hit the keys automatically, without conscious thought behind their actions. And with a sigh, I begin mindlessly scrolling through profiles of my “friends.” Once again, I am face-to-face with my worst enemy, the dreaded juggernaut of social networks, Facebook. I, like many people, are done. We’re done with the over-sharers, the game-players, (Really? You’re still playing Farmville?) and the drama queens. But most of all, we’re done with Facebook. So begins the mass exodus, right? It will begin slowly at first, but will soon accelerate, toppling Facebook into the pit of the has-beens where MySpace has lived since 2007. Not quite. Here’s the thing. No matter how much I complain about Facebook, as much serious thought I give to deleting my profile and never looking back, I won’t. At least, not in the near future. Why? For one, I rely on Facebook for a decent chunk of my work. But for two, it’s the main connection I have between my friends from high school and college. I’m afraid that by deleting my profile, I will be cut out of the proverbial loop. Pew Research Center recently surveyed 802 teens aged 12—17 and found that I’m not alone: the majority of teens surveyed loathe Facebook but they’re also loathe to leave mainly due to that fear of missing out. (Full disclosure: while I am no longer a teenager, I am 23, putting me smack dab in the middle of the millennial generation that the survey participants are a part of). Teens cited reasons such as a growing adult presence, people who share excessive amounts of information, and too much “drama.” But as articles from Slate and ReadWriteWeb point out, don’t expect millennials to flock away from Facebook or even limit their time of the site. Facebook is a large component of how they socialize and keep up with friends, past and present, no matter how reviled their status updates may be. As Brian Hall put it, “Facebook is not only a destination, but a way of life.” And while the surveyed teens cited other social media sites as more supportive, drama-free environments, their usage rates for those “competing” networks isn’t comparable to the amount of people and time spent on Facebook. It’s hard to say whether Facebook is in the beginning stages of becoming obsolete—bloggers have been waving their death rattles for several years. But for now, there is simply no other alternative network, platform, or service that can provide millennials with the robust and multi-faceted social environment that they’ve come to expect. And until they are presented with a viable option, expect Facebook to continue its beleaguered reign.    ~Jessica