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Social media: It's not just for kids Perhaps due to the popularity of social media among a generation of young people who grew up with it, platforms such as Instagram and Face- book are often associated with people born in the 21st century. However, a 2018 study from the Pew Institute found that 65 percent of adults between the ages of 50 and 64 used Facebook and 68 percent used YouTube. Social media is often on the receiving end of negative attention, but it's also a potentially valuable tool that can help men and women over 50 stay connected with their communities. That's not always so easy for adults who no longer have children at home. And as its name suggests, social media can help users connect with others who share their interests. Such connections also can be hard to make for adults over 50. Adults over 50 may be more comfortable with social media now than they were a decade ago, but it's still a good idea to brush up on basic security measures that can help men and women protect their privacy as they utilize platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. · Protect your personal information. No social media user has the right to access your personal information, including your address, date of birth or other data unique to you. Avoid interact- ing with anyone who requests personal infor- mation, employing the function to block such users from connecting with you when possible. It's also important to keep information about travel plans private. For example, sharing details of an upcoming vaca- tion can serve notice to potential criminals that no one will be in your house, making it a potential target for burglars. · Aim for quality, not quantity, when building social media networks. Avoid accepting friend requests from individuals you don't know. Cyber criminals often gain ac- cess to victims via social media, so limit your social media network to people you know and trust. · Turn off location information. The tech- nology behind social media is impressive and even makes it possible to determine where users are when they tweet or post to other platforms. But many users, especially those concerned about their pri- vacy, don't want to share location information with anyone, much less strang- ers. Turn off location information and routinely double check to make sure it's still turned off. · Discuss others' privacy concerns before posting to social media. Social media isn't for everyone, and some people may not want photos of them- selves or their children posted to platforms like Facebook or Instagram. Prior to posting pictures or information about other people, confirm that they're OK with you doing so. Adults over 50 are engag- ing with social media. But no matter how comfortable users become, it's still best to keep various social media safety protocols in mind. By Metro Create Bigstock photo The students face me, still blank looks on their faces. Still no light. Definitely an acute epi- sode going on here. I can see that it's not WHAT I said that was unclear or welcome. It was that my crystal clear instruction was barely registering in their too-full brains. I could almost see the gooey brain fog swirling in their heads — a morass of worries and voices from whatever the rest of life was giving them at the moment. Perhaps her boss' unfair Darkness ... continued from page 3 criticism from work yesterday, or his argu- ment last week with his girlfriend, or that recent car accident . . . or any one of the panoply of global catastrophes happening now: national politics .Ukraine, the economy, global climate change. So many worries to choose from, sadly. Those mental ghosts swirling in their minds, a choir of ghoulish spec- ters chanting a terrible cacophony inside their brains. Egads! Compared to all that… or whatever else was occupying their thoughts, pretty much anything I said was not loud enough to break through. No. Compared to that mental din, my voice was only a feeble chirp, a dim foghorn in a swirling storm. sounding like those adults in a Peanuts cartoon : "whahh, wah-wah -wah-wahhhh." I know this feeling well. It's still a daily battle for me too — while taking other dance classes: BRAMOOLIAP while grocery shopping: BRAMOOLIAP while sitting down to write this article: bra- moo… bramOOli, BRA- MOOLIAP! Fortunately, I knew just what they needed. I had the remedy to lift them quickly out of their men- tal quicksand. Face to face with a smiling human, almost no one can stay ensnared in BRAMOOLIAP for long. The sensation of wrap- ping your arms, gently but firmly, around your partner's shoulders really focuses your atten- tion. Feeling your part- ner's hands bouncing to the catchy music rockets your consciousness up out of the murky depths and into the sunlight. We try again. I pa- tiently guide the couple to practice the dance together, in stop-motion, move by move. It starts to sink in. I play music. I repeat my instructions s-l-o-w-l-y. Finally, something in his brain snaps-to. My words connect, like a ray of light from Steamers Lane lighthouse, beaming out to that lost ship adrift on the Monterey Bay waves. "Oh I got it!" he gushes, relieved. "Is that all it is? That's not so hard." Breakthrough! Suddenly the dancing couple comes to life. Precisely on the beat he shoots his hand up to the left diagonal corner. As he learns to lead it more clearly, she starts to follow it better. She feels the beat, compresses her hand into his, pivots rhythmically to the right, snaps back to face her partner and into a rock step, right on beat. The cure has taken hold. Two more dancers snatched from the jaws of dark dancing con- fusion into the joy of partner dancing. BRAMOOLIAP BE- GONE! Rock on my young dancers, rock on into that happy light. Come join our SCW&S dance community -- find your own breakthrough into dancing bliss. How to make new friends after 50 The early years of mid- life are a hectic time for many people. Around the time many people reach their late 30s and early 40s, they're balancing the responsibilities of a career and a family. But as peo- ple enter their 50s, some of those responsibilities tend to be less significant, leaving more time for recreational pursuits. Hobbies and other pursuits outside of work are often more fun when enjoyed with friends. Peo- ple over 50 undoubtedly recognize that it's not always so easy to make new friends, even though it's undeniably beneficial to have supportive rela- tionships into your golden years. A 2017 study from researchers at Michigan State University found that valuing friendships was a stronger predictor of health and happiness among older adults than valuing family. Those results align with an earlier Australian study that found Australians age 70 or older tended to live significantly longer if they had more strong friend- ships. Making friends after 50 might not be as simple as it was during your school days, but these strategies can help men and women in midlife build new friendships. · Identify your interests. Fiftysomethings who have spent the last couple of decades building a career and raising a family can give some serious thought to their interests outside of work or passions they hope to pursue now that they have more time to commit to such pursuits. The more interested you are in a given activity, the more likely you are to stick with it. And the lon- ger you stick with some- thing, the more likely you are to meet like-minded individuals (i.e., future friends) willing to make similar commitments. · Utilize social media. In years past, men and women over 50 may not have had any readily available tools to reach out and connect with new people. Social media has made it much easier to build such connections. Even the most obscure passions likely have a social media group of lo- cals devoted to them, and these groups can be great ways to meet new people. A local runner's club may have its own social media accounts, and local governments and commu- nity groups often share information about sports leagues and other groups via social media. · Sign up for group out- ings. Communities often sponsor group outings to museums, the theater, sporting events, and other day trips. Signing up for a bus trip to a local museum presents a great oppor- tunity to meet people who share your interests, providing the potential to build lasting friendships built on a foundation of shared interests. · Broaden your horizons. Just because you're in your 50s doesn't mean your friends have to be. Don't hesitate to invite younger or older acquaintances and colleagues over for dinner or on weekend excursions. Friends come in all shapes, sizes and ages, so you could be missing out if you're not willing to extend a hand in friendship to people of different ages and back- grounds. Making friends after 50 can be challenging. How- ever, various strategies can help men and women over 50 connect with new people. By Metro Create Metro Stock photo Bigstock photo

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