Online Abuse of the Elderly by - the Elderly

I recently ventured into the murky waters of on-line blogging. I’ve had a personal blog for just over 6 years, visible only to my immediate family, (if they could be bothered to read my drivel, that is). I write for my own amusement and treat it like a diary of my life, thoughts and opinions on this crazy planet we live on. Occasionally I’ve had the odd article or letter printed in magazines or newspapers but not enough to make me big-headed or presume I have any kind of talent. The fact that my blog is almost exactly the same age as my first and so far only grandchild is no co-incidence. She has brought such joy to our lives, (my husband has just recently retired), I picked up the proverbial pen again after years of child-rearing and work put writing on the back burner. So, as a grandmother I have just discovered a website dedicated to like minded women like me, (or so I believed), who wish to share information, chat, discuss problems or queries or just share nonsense they’ve penned to get a little feedback from their peers. At first all went well and I received some useful advice about such topics as what age to teach a granddaughter to knit or how to deal with a thorny motor insurance problem. I also posted a few comments on other grandma’s “threads” – see I’m learning the jargon already! I kept my comments short, to the point, always respectful in spite of my personal take on the subject and, I hope, constructive. Then one day I dared to put my toe into the shark infested waters of the “Blogging Forum”. Wow....of course I didn’t realise that this area was for professional or semi-professional writers and discovered too late that had my piece been correctly monitored by GNHQ it would never have passed the rigorous criteria required. It was a small somewhat caustic and very tongue in cheek piece, and not at all intended to offend anyone except perhaps Princess Catherine and the Middleton family who I’m convinced are big enough to take it on the chin anyway. Well the amount of vitriol spewed at me from the other grannies had to be seen to believed. I appear to have inadvertently offended not only all fans of the Middletons but everyone who was ever related to or descended from a coal miner, or living north of the Watford Gap, or lovers of “Marmite”. One of the more disgusted sisters then reported me to GNHQ – sounds scary enough to be a secret agent network doesn’t it? GNHQ very politely informed me via e-mail that they had removed my writing from the Blogs section and placed it in the less explosive “Chat” area. Then an enterprising granny posted a new and very originally entitled blog called “When is a blog not a blog?” and the same old witches, (sorry grannies), proceeded to spit their bile at me on that blog too. After informing them that I’d discovered their not very discreet game of hide and seek I then got bored and gave up viewing the poison. After all I had no desire to feed their already inflated egos by letting them think I was waiting with baited breath for yet more unoriginal snide comments as they each tried to outdo one another with bigger and better insults to me, a sad, snobbish Southerner. Luckily for me I lead a very busy life in retirement with several hobbies, volunteering and of course caring for our beautiful granddaughter while our daughter works. So I’m at a loss to know where these GOGs, (that’s Grumpy Old Grannies), find the time to a) read and b) tear to pieces so many other peoples’ harmless jottings. Oh yes, after a little research it wasn’t long before I spotted the same old pen names crop time and again posting similar vile comments on other writers who had dared to venture onto their hallowed territory. Fortunately I’m a mature, well balanced person who knows I can shut down my account and no longer have any dealings with these ethereal vampires. But I can imagine if you’re young and just gaining some confidence in the grown up world how hurtful and harmful on-line bullying can be and I accept I got off lightly. I heard recently that Saira Khan had death threats from One Direction fans for daring to write about Harry Styles. What on earth is that all about? I never thought that at the grand old age of 64 I’d become a victim of Trolls. It’s been a unique experience and I wonder how many other silver surfers have come across this phenomenon?