Introducing Grandpa to the Algorithm

My grandpa

Over winter break, my grandfather, whom I was spending the holidays with asked me to help him download the app Instagram. He is 79, and has no social media (besides LinkedIn) so I was very excited to help him. However, this prompted me to wonder about his generation and their experience on social media. I asked my grandfather some questions about his experience, and also did some research on his people in his age group and their interactions on apps like TikTok or Instagram, which have taken my generation by storm. 

I first started off by asking him if there was a difference in his life before and after downloading the app, this had been about a month after creating his account. He said that there was not a major difference, however he had questions about his algorithm. He found that his feed was filled with videos of things like boating accidents, or animals eating one another. This, he recalled, had him glued to his phone. When I asked him if he was happy he downloaded the app, all he could say was “yes” and then went on to recall the details of a video of an alligator he saw. 

This led me to wonder about how social media has affected his generation, and what I found was very interesting. 

Unlike my generation, who grew up on these platforms, the older generation was introduced to social media very suddenly and with no guidance. Which unfortunately could make them more susceptible to its addictive fashion. Research shows that regardless of age, apps like Instagram and TikTok heavily rely on gathering information on what a user is interested in and feeding it to them in a constant heavy stream. I myself have experienced how easy it is to be pulled into this habit. For users like my grandfather, this immense exposure could feel overwhelming, and also fascinating. His experience shows that social media does not take into account which generation it is targeting, It is designed to draw in anyone. 

While younger generations are often thought to be the ones most addicted to social media, a closer look shows that it affects all generations. Looking back, I do feel a bit of guilt introducing my grandpa to Instagram. I want him to live in the moment, his experience even made me reflect on my relationship with social media and how slowly I have been dedicating a lot of my precious time to it.  However, in the end, I am grateful for the shared experience it created between us, and for the awareness it gave me about being more intentional with how and why I personally choose to participate in social media!