Strategically Communicating

As a 12 year old in middle school, everyone that I communicated with was at school and or home. I did not live enough of my life at that point to have 300 some odd friends. So why the need for middle schoolers to have a social media account? My 14 year old brother has had his Facebook account for two years now. Why? He texts and writes on his friends walls as much as he talks to them in person. They actually have conversations in life about Facebook! It seems to me that social media is blending the lines of childhood and adolescents. Cyberbullying is surpassing school-yard bullying because it is easier to be brave and rude via a computer screen than face to face.