"When you do status updates — sometime I forget that they're on — I have to look at it a different way," he said.

Not everyone is thrilled with the Baby Boomers' discovery of such sites. Some young people have responded by searching out new ways to stay a step ahead of grandma, moving from Facebook to Twitter, for example.

"I think that these developments might be the death of Facebook," said Simon's friend, Charlie Pabst.

Social networking sites are still predominantly used by a younger population. The median ages of MySpace and Facebook users were 26 and 27 years old, respectively. At the career-focused LinkedIn, it was 40, according to a recent report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

But there may be no escaping the onslaught from older relatives. Bundesen also uses Twitter to update her status. "I'm adapting to their lifestyle," she explained.

Like some younger users, my grandfather initially joined looking to connect to old classmates — in his case, any that were still alive.

He wasn't so successful there. But soon, he found that he could use it to stay in touch with grandchildren near and far.

I spent a fair amount of time around my grandfather growing up in Colorado. But truthfully, I never really knew him — his personality, his war stories, the story of how he and my grandmother met.

After my grandmother passed away last year, my grandfather found himself alone for the first time in 65 years. He was looking for ways to occupy his time.

So this summer, about six months after becoming a widower, 88-year-old Howard Hilt of Pueblo, Colo., joined Facebook and got to know his granddaughter in New Jersey. For better or worse.

When I posted a status update about running my first mile since recovering from ankle surgery, he wrote on my page: "That's the way to go Tiger!"

He also comments on pictures.

"I sure look my age in this one, and not too good in the others either," he said of one recent picture my cousin posted. "Candid shots are too stark for me, I think."

When I sent him a list of 25 random things about me, he returned the favor with a list of "Notes about me, Grandpa Hilt."

They were very different lists, to be sure.