Social Networking at 68 and other night terrors

I know how to edit photos. Me at 68 yeah right!

I love this quote, "one day you are cock-of-the-walk, the next you are a feather duster"

So,after the initial shock of going onto pension and being delegated by the same people who awarded you with certificates for being the best and most creative worker, to "pensioner" and as my husband said, "past my shelf life" - Really!! I decided to reach out into the Social Networking arena. 

Someone should have warned me about the vultures out there. Honestly I did not even know the word catfishing was part of the English language.

So, after stumbling across Instagram, Hangouts, WhatsApp and Facebook to name a few - my education into social networking began. So for other geriatrics out there here is a good definition from Google.

"A catfish is someone who creates a false online identity. Catfishing is common on social networking and online dating sites. Sometimes a catfish's sole purpose is to engage in a fantasy. Sometimes, however, the catfish's intent is to defraud a victim, seek revenge or commit identity theft".

I happily hopped, skipped and jumped onto these sites oblivious to the dangers lurking in the shadows. Put up my profile as Married, 68 years old and a little bit of my interests. Posted some family photos, hobby photos and a few photos of me. I had learned how to use photo editing software - so maybe I lied - and looked more like 40 than "past my shelf life".

Bad move. Within three weeks I had over 230 young and old males asking to connect to me. Even if I deleted them, more would take their place. Plus some women jumping on the band wagon to offer their wares to unsuspected customers. I was continually deleting people off the list.

Some men really seemed genuine, showing the same interests as me - but believe me, I found out to my horror, this is not the case. Men on these social networking sites either need a mother, a psychologist or a "lady of the night" to put it bluntly. If you have never tried phone-sex this is about as close to it as you can get if you are willing, but beware there is underling motives for this and believe me its not sexual gratification. Lets face it ladies, if this hunk of a man with come-to-bed blue eyes wanted sex, he would not ask a 70 year old generic for it. Get real!!

So, here goes this geriatric skipping into the lives of several men who said I was beautiful, sexy and a few other things I cannot post on this Blog. Some said they fantasized about having sex with me, [so much for "I am past my shelf life]", one wanted to know if I liked coffee or tea and a few more personal things - while I unsuspected, chatted away while these vultures built up a profile of me.

It can be flattering to have a 32 year old ask you if you mind telling them about what it was like being 68 years old and still "active" - OMG. Ok I will answer 5 questions - which I did as honestly as I could - but never again.

I was a Training Librarian, taught on critical thinking skills slowly I noticed the cracks in their stories, some things did not match. I analysed the photos they sent and using background information like the name of a ship on a flag, and I was able to track some of them down. Most of them had stolen identities from other people online.

I then started doing research. If he looks like a male model - he's probably is not. If he says his wife died and he is raising his daughter alone - believe me this is a common denominator here among a lot of the men I made friends with. The really dangerous ones will try to draw you away from Instagram to dodgy places like Hangouts where you have to offer your email details giving them future access to your life.

These people will chat away for, in my case, over six weeks and slowly gain your trust, they will talk about their home town, their interests, their joys and sadness, your country and your politics, but in the end they are going to either ask for money, sexual chatting or use what you said to blackmail you.

So fellow geriatrics, from someone who is staring 70 years in the eyes, stay away from open social networking. Limit who may see your details and contact you, even if he says he also likes cats. Take it from me, a seasoned veteran of social networks - you may feel good about yourself again, but if its "Too good to be true", it probably is!