Wednesday, April 10, 2019

A to Z 2019 April Blogger Challenge - Letter I - The Ick Factor

It's April - That means I will be participating in the A to Z Blog Challenge.

I will be posting six days a week for the month of April - (with a rest day on Sunday).
Each post will begin with the corresponding letter of the alphabet beginning with A and finishing with the letter Z.

I began participating in this challenge in 2012.   With the exception of last year, I believe I completed the challenge each year.   Last year I lost steam somewhere around the letter W.


The Ick Factor of Instagram

I do have  Twitter and Facebook accounts.  My Facebook account is set to private. I use it to keep up with family and close friends.   I don't quite understand Twitter.   I rarely tweet, but do follow some public figures.

My social media of choice is Instagram.   

Ninety percent of the people I follow and those who follow me are knitters or crocheters.   Ninety-nine of the photos and stories I post are craft related.

To make it easier for new crafty friends to follow me, I have set my account to public. 

There is a phenomenon on Instagram which happens to most women.   
I call it the "Ick" factor. 
The best way to describe the Ick is to give an example.



This is a partial list of men that I have on my blocked list.   I have blocked hundreds more like these. 

I'm not quite sure what these guys are after.  Most of the time their account is set to Private.  Most of the time they are following hundreds, sometimes thousands of people but they themselves only have a handful of followers. 

Generally, I get the impression that some of the men on my blocked list are looking for "love"?

Perhaps it is a little naive of me, but to give them the benefit of the doubt, let's say they are using Instagram as a dating app. 

But then that's where I get a little suspicious.  Why do they choose to follow me?  

As I said, I post on and browse Instagram mainly for my crafty hobbies of knitting and crochet.  

Here is my profile on Instagram:

           "I am a wife, mother & grandmother.  Enjoying retirement, obsessively knitting".      

Her is my profile picture.  I am clearly a senior lady with gray hair.


So, if these men are looking for a potential partner, why would they choose a women who is obviously not on Instagram for that reason?


Sometimes they want to send me a message:


I don't know if this happens on other social media platforms.  But I know for a fact that it happens to most every woman on Instagram.   

Since I choose to keep my account public, my solution is to block them.   And that works out rather well.  

I wonder, are they even real persons?  Are they Bots?   
OR, are they looking to scam little old ladies?

Whatever the case, they are ICKY!!!

Have you had this happen to you?  How do you handle it?

7 comments:

  1. Oh goodness I have the same problem! Except my Instagram is set to private. And 99% of the men who message me have military pictures and tell me "I was looking for someone from high school and came across your profile, lets be friends." I actually wrote a post about this on my own blog, if you wanted to check it out, you can find it here:

    https://noloveforfatties.com/2018/11/14/instagram-dates/

    Giggling Fattie
    www.noloveforfatties.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know pretty scary for sure. I'm glad we are savvy enough not to get caught in their obvious scams.
      I will check out your post.

      Delete
  2. Yep, I had the same problem. That is why I changed my account to private. Same thing. They would start out with "hello" and then get a bit more pushy. I accidentally in my attempt to block someone pressed the wrong button and accidentally started a video chat with him. When I realized what I did, I quickly stopped it but then he immediately tried to call me back. I just turned off my phone for a bit and then when I got back on, I quickly blocked him. Definitely an ick factor. I did know a lady who fell prey to one of these guys through Facebook and he pretended to love her, wanted to take care of her, but in the meantime she had given him some money for this and that. Thankfully she told her family (she was a widow) and they told her she was being scammed so so got the police involved.

    betty

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    Replies
    1. Oh my goodness, Betty! What a horrible experience! Yes, blocking these jokers is the way to go.
      I feel sorry for the poor lady who fell victim to that guy. Good that she had the presence of mind to tell her family. I hope they got the guy!

      Delete
  3. I've been trying to figure out what these guys want. I, too, mostly put up pics of my knitting and crochet. Sometimes it's something funny I see in a classroom. So, I don't get it. Then they try to slide into my DMs, and I just don't. I don't check them, and I don't respond.

    They're a bit like the teens who just post pic after pic of themselves. Yawn.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I wonder about what their purpose is. But I know it can't be anything good. That's for sure.
      I get the DM's also and deny the message and block the guy.

      Delete
  4. I get the same thing on Facebook....I always look at their profile and invariably, all the photos involve either kids or pets. Some are ignorant enough to show the groups they belong to. Usually Nigerian...same as their friends. LOL!

    DB McNicol, author
    Microfiction: Instrument

    ReplyDelete