text: It may have been invented for students to use. But youngsters appear to be deserting Facebook in droves because it is now so popular with their parents – and grandparents. Almost a third of people aged 16-to-34 have deleted their accounts because they no longer see it as ‘cool’. The trend comes as increasing numbers of older users turn to the social network to stay in touch and share family pictures. Nearly 60 per cent of Britons aged over 55 now have a Facebook account, according to research. Facebook has even started running television adverts to entice the so-called ‘silver surfers’ to join. Now a survey of around 2,000 Britons has revealed that it is having the opposite effect on youngsters. ‘As parents are signing up, their children are logging off to maintain privacy,’ said Lord Jim Knight, chairman of online lobby group the Tinder Foundation. In the poll, a third of Facebook users are said to have blocked a family member so they can no longer see their account or do not receive automatic updates. The survey did not take account of the number of youngsters who have effectively blocked their family members by refusing to add them as a ‘Facebook friend’ in the first place. One in ten people aged 16 to 34 signed up to other platforms so they could remain ‘under the radar of their parents’. But whilst youngsters may be leaving Facebook, they are not giving up on social media altogether. More than half said they had joined Twitter, where only 13 per cent of ‘silver surfers’ said they have accounts. Meanwhile, about 40 per cent of youngsters use the picture-sharing website Instagram, according to the study commissioned by Halifax and carried out by Opinium Research. Logging off: Nearly a third of people aged 16-to-34 have deleted their facebook accounts because they no longer see it as ‘cool’ Around the same proportion use Snapchat, a social media platform which automatically deletes messages shortly after they are sent. The picture was very different among the over-55s. Just three percent have an Instagram account and even fewer – around one percent – use Snapchat. The way people use these different social platforms is also changing. Around a fifth of those aged 16 to 34 use their smartphones at family dinners, posing a threat to the precious mealtimes that used to be the cornerstone on family life. By comparison, just one percent of silver surfers use their smartphones during a meal with their offspring.
target: Parents and grandparents flocking to social media site .
  Almost 60% of Britons aged over 55 now have Facebook account .
  Many have left site while others block posts from family members .