Remember when you were younger and you had to lie about your age all the time so you could do ~cool~ things like buy a drink, snag an older date, or order from an infomercial? Turns out, the anxiety that comes with faking your age may follow you for the rest of your life… if you live to be old enough, that is.
When Plainview, Minnesota resident Anna Stoehr tried to sign up for Facebook recently, she came to a crossroads. Her birth year wasn’t listed as an option in the site’s drop down menu, so she did what any regular rebel would do: She lied.
But unlike hordes of preteens who are faced with that tricky situation, Stoehr wasn’t trying to age up… the 114-year-old had to age down. Stoehr was born in 1900, back when the U.S. had 45 stars on its flag and President William McKinley was the 25th president. Facebook, however, apparently doesn’t think amazing people like Stoehr exist, because the site capped the age limit to people born in 1905.
To her credit, Stoehr — who’s the seventh oldest person in the U.S. — got around the age block by claiming her birth year was 1914. Yep, she aged herself down to a pretty 99 years old (cue “Flawless” remix). She also took the time to pen an epic letter to Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg, telling him, “I’m still here.”
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Unlike most senior citizens who seem to abhor new technology, Stoehr is like a kid in a candy store when she uses her iPad. With the help of a Verizon sales rep named Joseph Ramireza — who met Stoehr after selling a phone to her 85-year-old son — she’s become the coolest, most tech-savvy gal in her retirement community by learning email, Google, FaceTime, and, now, Facebook.
Let’s just hope Ramireza teachers Stoehr how to avoid Grandma/Grandmaster Flash-related incidents like these.
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