FaceTime /Skype

Whoops! Meant to add a smiley!

Enjoy being 69! I turned 70 this year and, when you actually say it, 70 sounds so much older than 69! So I think I'll stick at 69 .smile

I used to be quite pretty (I'm told)and still not overly wrinkled but have never been photgenic so candid pics don't upset me too much !I look a loss less wrinkled when not smiling but then I look a bit grim. I don't Skype but don't have distant GCs either !

My favourite cartoon has 4 boxes.Elderly lady sitting at home: caption 1 - 'This is my house'. caption 2 - 'These are my things'. caption 3 -'This is my cat'. caption 4 (looking in mirror) 'So who the hell is that ???' At moments like that, all you can say is 'Well,not dead yet...'

Hold the ipad up in front of you so you're looking straight at it rather than downwards, that will prevent much of the saggy look.
Otherwise don't worry about it. Look at some of the photos of celebrities who've had cosmetic surgery - and look far worse than they did before (see Donatella Versace for one) - you look better than that!
Children LIKE granny's face, a friend's grandchildren talk about her "happy-life lines", if you're smiling at them, they really won't care that you no longer look as you did 30 years ago - after all, who does?

Eye bags, double chin, pot belly, brown spots and gray hair have become the bane of my existence. Well meaning folks tell me the advantage of getting old is that I no longer have to care what others think. Ha! If I live to be a hundred, vanity will have to be torn from my cold, dead fingers before I give it up. So, for Facetime or Skype appearances in 'real time', hair and makeup have to be just right and face must remain lower than the camera lens at all times, never above. If someone wants to surprise you with Skype or Facetime and you're not 'visible', pretend your dead and don't answer!! Selfies, photos, etc. is another story. If one picture is worth a thousand words, a clever 'PhotoShop' can be worth more than a best selling novel!

That's why I never taken a selfie!

Every selfie I take makes me look like my carer is waiting for me back at the home - or alternatively that I've just had a stroke!

I was considering going back to contact lenses after many years, but have realised just how many crows feet my glasses are hiding !

Skype is bad enough but at least the little ones can't grab you, run their perfect little fingers over the back of your hand and call to their friends to look at Grandma's wavy skin as my DGD did at her 7th birthday party on Saturday.

aggie Most other things have gone, but I haven't started shrinking yet!

I am not even still tall .......

It is a bit of a shock to see yourself. I used to be tall, slim, had reasonable hair and flawless skin, no saggy or jowly bits. I'm still tall........

Your post made me giggle. I to was FaceTime with my daughter last night. As she is in Australia she always calls me after doing the school run, so I'm always in my dressing gown looking tired and haggered and she's all bright and breezy with sun beating down on her. I position the iPad up abit so I look up rather than down, it makes a slight difference but I soon forget when busy chatting away.

Turtle neck sweater,fringe,style hair forward at the sides,long earrings and spot of blue eye make up on outer eye lids and a BIG smile ,done.When I had my passport photo done due to time restraints I went to a more expensive local place,brilliant and in 10 years I'm going to be unrecognizable by Customs !!

Too true Ninathenana. I learnt early on to hold it up.

My son posted a photo on facebook of me and my grandson laughing into each others faces. My grandson looked gorgeous. I looked about 80! I'm twenty years younger. Lets just say, I wouldn't have shared the photo on facebook!

Such a comfort to find that I am far from the only one to see the decrepit old woman on Skype! Oh the neck! No wonder I get Day creams and Night creams as presents, and (lovely) scarves!!

Happy birthday all those with birthdays today ! I know what you mean ....sadly I am always being shawdowed by an old white haired wrinkled woman ...in changing rooms, even at home ! I would report her for stalking if I knew who she was ! She is even at the hairdressers with me !

To add insult to injury back views in "candid" family pics seem to be photobombed by a dumpy little Russian baboushka.
I have no idea how she came to be there.
Gatecrasher??

Glad it is not just me then that sees a unironed old overweight woman in a photograph, or even passing a large reflective shop window, when in my head I am 29......
The camera never lies they say, well maybe it is about time it learnt a bit of diplomacy.

Ah the joys of getting older.....

The trick is a quick glance that way things don't look so bad, or in my case leave your glasses off when you look in the mirror, good tip.
Also don't have your photo taken it's as simple as that. I don't even have a photo of me on FB, just my cat Oscar.
I always wear a scarf round the neck bumblebee.

When Skyping our family I've realised that how I sit seems to be a key issue related to how I look on the screen. Using the tablet (when snuggled up on the sofa), I think that I look crumpled, old, and more than my 66 years. (Not helped by us almost always Skyping in the UK evening because they live overseas and are eight hours behind UK time. Thus I'm into "evening" mode, on the sofa.) I think I appear notably better if I Skype whilst sitting upright on an "office" chair, with the desktop camera slightly higher than my face, so that I look up to it slightly. Also I recommend scarves, jewellery, and keeping your chin up a bit!

My ancient aunt used to say the same "who's that wrinkly old lady I can see in my mirror?' My aunt is long-gone, but whoever the wrinkly old lady was, she's moved in with me, when I look in the mirror there she is.