Hostility Toward Baby Boomers on TikTok

Abstract

Background and Objectives The recent entry of the hashtag #OkBoomer into social media vernacular underscores the collective frustration of younger people with a group whose views they find increasingly incompatible with theirs. Most social media analyses in gerontology focus on content on Twitter and Facebook, with content on TikTok virtually unexplored. Given the burgeoning popularity of TikTok among younger people, we assess the content of TikTok videos with the hashtags #OkBoomer or #Boomer to distill the undercurrents of hostility expressed by younger people towards Baby Boomers. Research Design and Methods We collated TikTok videos (N=332) with the hashtags #OkBoomer or #Boomer, which received over 5.4 billion views. Both inductive and deductive approaches guided the qualitative content analysis of the videos. Results Five themes emerged. Most videos (79%) described ‘Negative Encounters with Baby Boomers’ (Theme 1). 58% were about ‘Conflicting Values/Beliefs between Baby Boomers and Younger People’ (Theme 2). 39% were about ‘Baby Boomers Antagonizing Younger Generations’ (Theme 3). 22% of the videos made references to the ‘Karen Meme’ (Theme 4). 7% bemoaned the existence of a ‘Wealth Gap’ between Baby Boomers and younger people (Theme 5). Discussion and Implications Findings reveal that the usage of the hashtags #OkBoomer and #Boomer is highly nuanced, at times explicitly ageist, and at others, emblematic of a phenomenon far more complex than ageism. There is a need to leverage social media as a space to foster interaction between older and younger people. Society is ultimately well served by intergenerational interaction.

Ageism on Twitter during the COVID‐19 pandemic

“…Furthermore, there were suggestions to issue a lockdown only for older adults so that the rest of society would be able to regain some semblance of normalcy and freedom (Farrell, 2020 ). Some also stereotyped older people as refusing to wear masks (Ng & Indran, 2022b ). Tension between the generations as well as negative stereotypes of older adults during the pandemic may have therefore served as countervailing forces that hindered greater improvements in the sentiment score.…”

“…This will replace the existing narrative from one of COVID‐19 as a virus that older adults must be protected from to one that sees the pandemic as a broader issue which society can overcome as a collective (Xiang et al., 2021 ). Social media should also be employed as an avenue to share optimistic narratives on older adults to counteract the spread of inaccurate age stereotypes as well as to improve younger people's perceptions of old age (Ng, Indran et al., 2022 ; Ng & Indran, 2022b , 2022d ). In line with stereotype embodiment theory, this will lead to better health outcomes among younger people when they eventually enter later life (B.…”

“…In creating opportunities for intergenerational contact, it is vital that these opportunities are reconceived as experiences beneficial to both the young and old rather than as a service which positions older adults as recipients of help. Leveraging social media to reach a broader audience—especially during this time when physical interaction is limited—may also prove useful for building intergenerational relationships (Lytle et al., 2022; Ng & Indran, 2022b; Spaccatini et al., 2022; Sutter et al., 2022) and will complement existing offline interventions aimed at reducing ageism.…”

Not Too Old for TikTok: How Older Adults Are Reframing Aging

“…Second, it is important to highlight that while creating content on social media may serve as a creative outlet ( Kim, 2012 ), having a large following online often means having to deal with cyberbullying ( Bolat & Gilani, 2018 ). Although older TikTokers may revel in the opportunity to interact with their younger audiences ( Dellatto, 2019 ), TikTok—not unlike other social media platforms—is not exempt from hateful speech ( Han, 2021 ; Ng & Indran, 2022 ) or as our study has shown, ageism. A promising avenue for future analysis could therefore shed light on the possible psychosocial benefits and costs that being a public figure on TikTok presents to older adults.…”

“…Presently, inquiry into the use of social media among older adults focuses primarily on its social ( Baecker et al, 2014 ) and cognitive benefits ( Quinn, 2018 ), as well as the motives of older adults for using social media ( Sheldon et al, 2021 ). Other studies have observed how older adults are discursively constructed by the younger demographic on platforms such as Twitter and Facebook ( Giest & Ng, 2018 ; Jimenez-Sotomayor et al, 2020 ; Levy et al, 2014 ; Ng & Indran, 2022 ). While some scholars have studied content creation in later life ( Ferreira et al, 2017 ), research on how members of the older cohort use social media to engage in discourses on old age is still in its inception.…”