Q: I’m friends with a new-comer to facebook, she’s in her 40s… anytime I post any photos of anything she almost immediately comments on every single photo with some awkward motherly comment.  Like “Wow looks like you made your bed!”  It gets annoying.  I feel bad un-friending her and if I give her limited access I’m afraid it will hurt her feelings.  Can I just delete the comments?  I see this woman in real-life from time to time… WHAT SHOULD I DO!?!  She looooooves commenting on photos. -Uh Oh!

A: Uh oh! I have totally been in your shoes.  What you’re dealing with here is a textbook case of The Olds, and I’m sorry to tell you, but it’s terminal.  You could just be honest and let her know the comments are embarrassing you, but we both know the only viable solution is to send your ailing over-40-year-old to the Facebook Retirement Center.  The Facebook Retirement Center is a lovely, serene place where the photos, wall posts, and status updates of the under-40 crowd don’t even exist.  You may know it by its other name— Limited Profile.

I know you don’t want to do it, but it MUST BE DONE unless you plan on suffering through embarrassing photo comments for the rest of your Facebook existence.  You don’t have to block her from the photos she’s already contaminated with her maternal ramblings, but going forward, you gotta put her on lockdown.  If the existing comments are too embarrassing to leave up, you can blame the ‘accidental’ deletion of her comments on Facebook being glitchy and weird.  For authenticity, you should probably make your ‘About Me’ section and a few profile pictures disappear for a few days too.  I promise you that her feelings will not be hurt by you hiding your photos from her in the future, because as far as the over-40 is concerned, you never took another photo after today.  What she doesn’t know (or see) won’t hurt her.  Now wheel her off into the sunset and get ready to live your life comment-free.

Love,

Lauren