Social Media Safety for Older Adults: Enjoying Online Connection Without the Risks

The Real Value of Social Media for Older Adults

It would be easy to write a guide about social media safety for older adults that focused entirely on the risks and ended up suggesting, implicitly or explicitly, that older adults should use social media as little as possible. That would be both paternalistic and wrong.

Social media provides genuine value to older adults. It reduces isolation by maintaining connections with family and friends who may live far away. It provides access to communities of people who share interests and experiences. It enables participation in conversations about local events, national issues, and everything in between. During periods of reduced mobility or illness, it can be a lifeline to social connection that significantly affects wellbeing.

The goal of this guide is to help older adults enjoy these benefits while being aware of the specific risks, and protected against them. Understanding the risks does not mean being frightened of social media. It means using it wisely.

Privacy Settings: What They Are and Why They Matter

Every major social media platform allows you to control who can see what you post, who can contact you, and what information about you is publicly visible. These settings exist and most people never look at them, which means their personal information is often more publicly available than they realise.

On Facebook, which remains the most widely used platform among older adults in the UK, privacy settings allow you to control whether your posts are visible to everyone, just friends, or a customised list. You can choose who can send you friend requests, who can look you up by phone number or email, and whether search engines can link to your profile. A review of these settings, ideally with the help of someone familiar with the platform if needed, is a worthwhile investment of an hour.

Consider what information is visible on your profile. Your date of birth, home address, and phone number are pieces of information that can be used by fraudsters. None of them need to be publicly visible on a social media profile. Your name and a photograph are often sufficient. Check who can see each piece of information and adjust accordingly.

Recognising Scams on Social Media

Social media is a significant vector for fraud targeting older adults. The scams take several common forms.

Friend requests from strangers who quickly become friendly and eventually ask for money or personal information are a common pattern. These may be the precursor to romance fraud (described in detail in a separate article) or to more direct requests for financial help framed as emergencies. The rule is simple: do not send money to, or share financial information with, anyone you have met solely online, regardless of how well you feel you know them.

Competition and prize scams present as posts claiming you have won a prize or that sharing a post gives you entry to a draw. They are designed to harvest your personal information, encourage you to click links that install malware, or extract a small "processing fee" before the prize can be claimed. Legitimate competitions do not require you to share posts to enter, and you will not win something you never entered.

Fake news stories about health, politics, and current events spread rapidly on social media. Some are created to generate advertising revenue from clicks; others are created to influence opinions or to harvest engagement. Before sharing a story that generates strong emotions, check whether established news sources are reporting the same thing. If only one unfamiliar source is reporting something dramatic, treat it with healthy scepticism.

Marketplace scams on platforms like Facebook Marketplace involve sellers listing items that do not exist, or buyers who pay via methods that can be reversed after receiving goods. If using marketplace features, always meet buyers in a public place, accept cash or verified payment only, and never share financial information beyond what is necessary for a transaction.

What to Share and What Not to Share

Photographs of holiday locations posted in real time tell anyone who can see your profile that you are currently away from home. Post holiday photographs after you return. The enjoyment of sharing them does not require sharing them in real time.

Photographs that include your home address (house number visible in the background, a delivery note, a photograph taken near your front door) are worth reviewing before posting. Photographs of grandchildren or other young family members should ideally be shared only with friends rather than publicly, as children's images have value to people with harmful intentions.

Think before posting about daily routines, medical appointments, or regular activities that reveal patterns about when you are and are not at home. This is not about paranoia; it is about being aware that your social media audience includes people you may not know as well as people you trust.

Managing Your Time on Social Media

Social media platforms are designed to maximise the time you spend on them, using algorithms that prioritise content that generates strong emotional reactions. This means your feed may contain a disproportionate amount of upsetting, outrage-generating, or anxiety-provoking content, because these generate more engagement than neutral or positive content.

Being aware of this dynamic allows you to use social media more intentionally. If you find that time on social media leaves you feeling worse rather than better, this is worth paying attention to. You can curate what you see by following accounts that share content you genuinely enjoy and unfollowing or muting those that consistently generate negative feelings.

Setting an intention for your social media time, whether that is keeping in touch with a specific group of people, following a particular hobby or interest, or simply having a time limit, gives you more control over the experience than scrolling without a purpose.

If Something Goes Wrong

If you believe you have been targeted by a scam on social media, do not be embarrassed. These scams are designed by professionals and they target people of every age and background. Report the account to the platform immediately using the report function. If money has been transferred, contact your bank immediately. Report to Action Fraud (0300 123 2040 or actionfraud.police.uk).

If your account has been hacked, change your password immediately and review your account for any changes made by the hacker. Enable two-factor authentication if you have not already. Tell people in your network that your account was compromised, in case the hacker has sent messages to your contacts.