Although many older adults have broadened their horizons when it comes to technology during the pandemic, some have upped their game by becoming “granfluencers” on social media, according to new research.
The University of Alabama in Huntsville conducted what they say is a first-of-its-kind study of social media usage by adults aged 50 or more years. People in this age range, they said, generally have fewer, but richer, relationships that come with age and provide more meaningful interpersonal interactions, leading to a decreased need to keep up with friends on social media.
But the survey of 414 adults — divided into two groups, those aged 50 to 74 and those aged 75 or more years — revealed a new trend of what the researchers dubbed granfluencers — primarily socially active adults aged 50 to 74 who use social media to document their stories and to “show off.”
“This finding about older individuals using visual media to promote themselves was a little surprising to us,” said Pavica Sheldon, Ph.D, a social media researcher in the Department of Communication Arts at UA Huntsville.
The study found that people aged 50 or more have come to rely on Facebook, especially, but also Instagram, to compensate for the lack of social activity and face-to-face interactions in their daily lives. People in this age range tended to list diversion and entertainment as reasons they use Facebook, whereas Instagram users cited social activity, travel and real-world leisure activities as reasons...
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