To fight stereotypes
Elderly TikTok users are using the online platform, considered a virtual playground for teenagers, to “challenge stereotypes of older people as technophobic and infirm.”
This is reported by The Guardian, citing a recent study.
The study showed that there is a growing number of user accounts aged 60 and over with millions of followers.
“Using the platform to showcase their energy and zest for life, these ‘TikTok Elders’ are rewriting ideas about how seniors should behave on and off social media.”
The study looked at 1,382 videos posted by TikTok users aged 60 and over with between 100,000 and 5.3 million followers.
In total, their videos, which explicitly talked about their age, have been viewed more than 3.5 billion times. The researchers found that 71% of these videos were used to challenge age stereotypes.
Almost one in five of the analyzed videos made fun of age-related vulnerabilities, and one in ten denounced ageism (age discrimination) both among young people and among their peers.
Other videos positioned older users as superior to younger people. “I may be 86, but I can still twerk better than you,” reads one video.
