Updated Jul 22, 2022 - Economy & Business
Grandparents are becoming influencers, too
- Hope King, author of Axios Closer
Screenshots from popuular accounts featuring seniors: @ourfilipinograndma and Retirement House.
The content machine needs constant feeding. Consider grandparents a new genre.
Catch up quick: Several TikTok accounts featuring older video creators are racking up millions of followers.
- Some, like @ourfilipinograndma, tell stories of intergenerational divides. In the screenshot above, the grandson and grandmother are using a viral TikTok template to make fun of a common technology issue — forgetting a password.
- Others, like the Old Gays, show off snippets of real life.
- Retirement House is an account that parodies the current trend of young creators living together to collaborate on viral content. In the scene above, members of the senior group are going to see the new "Minions" movie.
The big picture: An aging U.S. society will have more seniors than children by 2030, the New York Times notes, citing census data.
What they're saying: “I think my spiritual path may be showing people that aging is mostly in the mind,” 85-year-old TikToker Gaylynn Baker, recently told BuzzFeed News.
- “I’ve never had such a good time. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be on this planet, but I hope I’ll always be having this much fun," she added.