Is Facebook ageist? Maybe. A 114-year-old woman had to lie about her age to become a member of the social network, which does not allow you to choose a date of birth before 1905. Anna Stoehr, the oldest person in Minnesota, lied and claimed she was a sprightly 99. According to CNET, Stoehr “recently befriended Verizon sales representative Joseph Ramireza, a Verizon sales representative who sold an iPhone to Stoehr’s 85-year-old son. Ramireza was so impressed with Anna that he made the 2-hour drive from the Twin Cities to Plainview, Minn., where Anna currently resides in a nursing home, to teach her how to email, search for things on Google, use Apple’s FaceTime video chat and join Facebook.”
The Verizon representative helped her write a letter to Facebook. “When Facebook failed to recognize Anna’s birth date as valid, Joseph helped her write a letter to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg on an old typewriter. ‘I’m still here,’ Anna dictated.” Her interest in technology is not surprising to her son, Harlan. “That’s an aspect of my mom, she’s been curious about everything all her life and continues to be curious.”
