More and more older people are not only using the TikTok social network but also using it to question stereotypes about old age or to laugh at the misunderstandings generated by “older” prejudices; all with hundreds of thousands of followers, most of them young people and teenagers who cry “adopt me”.
“I want to throw ‘hate’ at this old woman but she makes me tender”, is the comment that they had made on TikTok to Mirta Bernardotti (79) -the “hippie grandmother”- and that she answered in one of her most popular videos, with 150,600 likes.
“They don’t have to throw ‘hates’ at me, the one who comes up with these things is my grandson, that moron you see there, who thinks he’s immune because he belongs to the LGGT community… what is he like? LGBTTT,” he says while pointing to his accomplice in this social network, 23-year-old Demian, surprised from behind while preparing a coffee.
In another video, he appears with a querulous expression and an overprinted sign that warns that this is what it looks like “when I skated all my retirement in the casino” while a song that says “I wish I could turn back time” plays.
Tita Zacharias (66 years old), meanwhile, she garnered more than 57,500 likes with a video that shows her with her grandson Joaquín (21), doing a trending choreography, to celebrate that she had reached 600,000 followers.
Another of the videos with the most views of “grandma aunt” is a “challenge” to the tattooed people of TikTok to which she responds by showing the names of her five grandchildren engraved on her left arm as the “biggest tattoo” and recognizes “as the most painful” the one behind her perfect eyebrows: “Since I didn’t have eyebrows, I got them tattooed,” says the post.
Created in 2017, the TikTok social network that exploded in audience during the pandemic and accumulates 3 billion downloads worldwide. Eight out of ten users is under 25 years old.
@laabuelahippie copying the link helps me a lot #grandmother #tiktokgrandmas #humor #sewing machine #cook ♬ 1, 2, 3 (feat. Jason Derulo & De La Ghetto) [Sped Up Version] – Sophia Reyes
Older adults are a minority: according to the online statistics portal Statista, only 0.36% of those who produce content on this social network are over 55 years of age.
Despite cultivating a very different mood, Tita from Salta and Mirta from Buenos Aires they have many things in common: They are both widows, present grandmothers, they are studying, they love to dance, they travel whenever they can and they have purple dyed hair.
“During the pandemic: one day my grandson came to me and said ‘grandma, do you dare to make a TikTok?’ I said yes at once and then asked him ‘what is it?’ The first were experimentation, then we improved it thanks to him. And also me, who is a broken face!” Mirta told Télam from Libertad, Merlo’s party in Buenos Aires.
His posts, full of political incorrectness and bad words, remind us of the ineffable Herminia, the mother of Eugenio and Sebastián “Culini” Weinbaum from the MDQ program.
Instead, Tita had already been recognized as “content creator” by TikTok when the coronavirus appeared.
“I arrived by chance, at a bad time in my life, when a niece asked me to make a video in 2018. Then I continued because it served me as a company, as a therapy and helped me a lot with the mourning for the death of my husband” told Télam Tita.
Each with their own style, they are active, self-confident, free, independent, fun, empowered, with a great social life and speaking with the same codes as their 20-something followers. Nothing is further from the stereotype that refers to an old age in solitude, confinement, depression, lack of resources and a time monopolized by illness or the unpaid work of caring for grandchildren.
@titazachariassilv1 #CapCut THANK YOU @Nelly Gianelli @Noemi Belloni @camilachman #holidays #grandma #more than 30 #over40 #trips ♬ Crazy in Love – Beyonce, Jay-Z
“Finally, age is just a number, a limitation that exists inside our heads because as long as we are healthy and our body allows it, we can play sports, dance, go out, walk, dress as we please -as I do- “Tita said that for the note she chose to wear a fuchsia sweater, a green scarf and a mustard yellow overcoat.
In fact, one of her last videos shows her lifting 15 kilos with her quads or studying at three in the morning for her first college final.
Meanwhile, between Mirta’s most popular shorts those are counted in which teaches “how to say no politely” when “they ask you to take care of your grandchildren” or “they ask you for money”, conversations thatHe recommends sealing with strong negatives, such as “chupala”.
“If the boys bring you for an emergency, it’s fine and I did it too, but if it’s to go out and party every day -as many do- I tell them ‘go for a walk!'”, says Mirta, who was able to do high school only in 2015 because her parents did not send her to school because she is a woman.
Both had to deal with “haters” who strongly question their presence on the social network or question their resources to be able to buy or use a latest generation Smartphone.
“At first they told me ‘and where did this dinosaur come from?’ Although there is no age limit, older people did not dare before or it seemed ridiculous. And the boys saw themselves as invaded and saw me as a competition, “said Tita.
Mirta is sometimes treated as a “raisin”, they ask about “the old woman’s telegraph”; but she always manages to strike back with humor.
“Obviously I bought my cell phone with my retirement, pa, that’s what it’s for. Or what, you don’t spend it on your salary, do you have it for decoration? Topo!”, he says in a response post.
In addition to the grandchildren, in both profiles the deceased husbands have a leading role, who appear in old photos of youth or in romantic anecdotes. Always more politically incorrect, Mirta does not hesitate to blame the deceased for things that fall when she is alone in her house or to show the vase where she keeps her ashes.
Other very popular senior tiktokers are “Grandpa Carlos” (97,600 followers), “Grandfather of TikTok” (730,000), “Grandpa Domingo” (1.4 million), “Abuela Josua” (3.9 million) and “Abuela XL” (522,000).
“I love it, I wish all grandmothers gave themselves the same place they had before, when they were young. I’m not ashamed of anything, I love it and it makes me happy that they have fun with what I do, that they recognize me on the street and that they want to take pictures with me”, concluded Mirta.
