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?