113-Year-Old Minnesota Woman Didn’t Let Facebook Age Restrictions Stop Her From Registering
A person lying about their age is hardly newsworthy -- we've all done it at some point or another, and if you haven't, someday you will -- but when that person is 113 years old and fibs about her date of birth in order to sign up for Facebook, well, that's a different story. For as brilliant as Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg is, along with his team of talented engineers, not one of them figured that anyone born before 1905 and still living would be interested in signing up for the social network. They were wrong.
Anna Stoehr, born on October 15, 1900, near Manning, Iowa, will celebrate her 114th birthday in just a couple of days. She now lives in Minnesota and is the state's oldest resident. Though she grew up in a home without electric lighting or a telephone, these days she uses her iPad to FaceTime friends and family scattered around the world.
Having been on this planet for close to 114 years, one can only imagine all the things Stoehr has seen and done during her lifetime. Her interests have changed over the years, and these days she's found a curiosity in technology, which is part of what led her to Facebook. And just like many others who don't meet the age requirement, Stoehr sidestepped the restriction by inputting a false age -- she signed up as a 99-year-old.
According to a nice writeup at Beta Wired, Stoehr's recent interest in technology began when she met a Verizon sales representative named Joseph Ramireza. Since the meeting, he's been helping her navigate the web. He also helped her hammer out a letter to Zuckerberg -- using a typewriter -- letting him know about the age restriction.
Given the media attention this has received, we suspect Facebook will address the issue, though at the time of this writing, 1905 is as low as the social network's birth year goes.
Anna Stoehr, born on October 15, 1900, near Manning, Iowa, will celebrate her 114th birthday in just a couple of days. She now lives in Minnesota and is the state's oldest resident. Though she grew up in a home without electric lighting or a telephone, these days she uses her iPad to FaceTime friends and family scattered around the world.
Having been on this planet for close to 114 years, one can only imagine all the things Stoehr has seen and done during her lifetime. Her interests have changed over the years, and these days she's found a curiosity in technology, which is part of what led her to Facebook. And just like many others who don't meet the age requirement, Stoehr sidestepped the restriction by inputting a false age -- she signed up as a 99-year-old.
According to a nice writeup at Beta Wired, Stoehr's recent interest in technology began when she met a Verizon sales representative named Joseph Ramireza. Since the meeting, he's been helping her navigate the web. He also helped her hammer out a letter to Zuckerberg -- using a typewriter -- letting him know about the age restriction.
Given the media attention this has received, we suspect Facebook will address the issue, though at the time of this writing, 1905 is as low as the social network's birth year goes.
