Even Facebook’s own data suggests younger teens are gravitating away from the world’s biggest social network. Mashable’s middle-school-age columnist Ruby Karp recently wrote a column on Mashable titled “I’m 13 and None of My Friends Use Facebook.”

Another teen, 16-year-old William Davenport, writes on CNBC that he’s not surprised at the lack of Facebook interest among younger adolescents, but there will come a time when they’ll all be on Facebook anyway. According to Davenport, Facebook has gone past the stage of being a fun toy to becoming a must-have tool, similar to a protractor in geometry class or a warm hat in Alaska.

“…as Ruby will find out as she gets into high school, where teenagers have to start taking charge of their own scheduling and connecting with many groups of teens outside of their immediate friend group, Facebook is a necessary tool for connection that fad social networks do not provide,” Davenport writes. “That is why unlike Vine (which is already going way downhill in my friend group) or Twitter or even Instagram, Facebook is not a bubble that can be burst with changing fads. Facebook is a tool that all of my friends need and will continue to need in the future.” (CNBC)

Paul Asay has covered religion for The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Beliefnet.com and The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. He writes about culture for Plugged In and wrote the Batman book God on the Streets of Gotham (Tyndale). He lives in Colorado Springs with wife Wendy and his two children. Follow him on Twitter.