Centenarian Facebooker is the Oldest Social networker
Lillian Lowe switched on to Facebook when her husband died in July. Now the 103 year-old from Tenby, Pembrokeshire (UK) is the world's oldest known social networker and has been inundated with friend requests, as reported by the BBC.
With over a thousand friend requests from around the world, Lillian said "They have been very kind and uplifting messages. I can't reply to them all."
A retired hotelier and businesswoman she says she uses Facebook about twice weekly to keep up to date with friends and family. "I like it very much, to see my grandchildren and speak to them, but it does waste a lot of time. I have a lot of time sitting alone, when you are my age, I don't go running around, and it is lovely to use. I have a number of friends - all my family, grandchildren, great grandchildren. I check up on my family. They send me messages [about] what they're doing, and to which parties they go."
She says she's also having fun with Twitter too. "I use it just for amusement really. I'm only a beginner. I do enjoy it, very much."
There are challenges for people of senior years using social networks. She said that people her age would need "an active brain" to use the social networking site. This is something that Facebook would hopefully take note of as we move towards an increasingly elderly population.
Lillian is very grateful for the kindness and friendship she's been shown, saying she has "had messages from all over the world. I'd like to say thank you very much".
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“I’m only a beginner”, true, and lovely, considering her age. I just love this anecdote; shouldn’t prevent me from precaution as a general approach to life, Facebook included, though :)