“What the hell, I am not 52.” Hass grumbles. “Haha OMG!” I tap tap tap his arm to make him look at my results, “It said I look 32! I’m a fan, I’m typically pegged for 15 — 18 on a good day.” Emotions are high in the office as everyone gets their results back. Some are gleefully gloating while others are scoffing, rolling their eyes and objecting. The Microsoft application took the office by storm and was a sticky conversation piece for days on end.

Interesting to watch this phenomena in my little microcosm, which is like a Petridish version of what must have happened in the big old world. How old.net was contagious across social media and hit my Twitter trend board. Then there was this Canadian organization the Toronto Covenant House with an ingenious idea; leverage the popularity of this app is use it to tell a powerful story – one of homelessness. They uploaded pictures of Torontonian homeless, to predict their age. Then they blew these pictures up, shared that persons story of how they got to the street, and then revealed their REAL age. Microsoft says 45….he’s really 22. “Nothing steals youth like the street,” reads one caption.