Half of videos on TikTok about baby boomers posted by younger people are ageist, a study suggests.
It is four years since ‘OK boomer’ became a fashionable patronising put-down aimed at people of a certain age.
But new analysis, looking at 673 videos about baby boomers posted on TikTok, which more than a billion people had viewed, found 49.3 per cent contain negative ageist stereotypes.
Such videos often claim older people have old-fashioned views and are holding back progress, include ‘boomer-blaming’ which suggests older people have wrecked the economy or environment, or give examples of them behaving badly towards younger people.
According to the new study, 49.3 per cent of videos posted on TikTok are against against ‘baby boomers’ – people born in the years following the Second World War (file photo)
Baby boomers are people born between the early 1940s and early 1960s, when there was a spike in births following World War II.
But researchers say ‘boomers’ has become a ‘catch-all term’ for some young people to refer to anyone older – often in a negative way.
Dr Reuben Ng, who led the study from the National University of Singapore, said: ‘Portrayals of older adults in the 1900s were very positive, celebrating older adults as heroes and romantics.
‘In the last 50 years, the view of ageing has changed dramatically, and ageism is rife on TikTok, with one in two videos created about older adults found to be worryingly disparaging.
‘By 2050, there will be over two billion older adults, so we need to celebrate ageing and foster solidarity between the generations.’
The study, published in the journal PLOS One, used facial recognition software to identify millennials and Generation Z people, aged 16 to 40, who had made videos about baby boomers.
The videos were found on TikTok using the hashtags ‘boomer’ and ‘OK boomer’.
The study used facial recognition software to identify millennials and Generation Z people, aged 16 to 40, who had made videos about baby boomers
The second hashtag – a symbol used on social media to identify a specific topic – is often used to criticise baby boomers for allegedly holding back social progress on issues like gender and sexuality.
The study showed ageist videos about boomers were seven times more likely than non-ageist ones to talk about older people’s values and beliefs.
The ageist videos were eight times more likely to re-enact encounters with older people, with young people in the videos often ‘ranting’ about how older people had suggested they were addicted to technology, self-obsessed or hypersensitive.
Ironically, the authors note, recent evidence shows young people who champion gender and racial equality are more likely to be prejudiced against older people and treat them equally.
They urge the media not to make ageism worse by blaming climate change or economic problems on the older generation.
The study also concludes that videos which emphasise the warmth of older people are less likely to be ageist, so it is important to highlight positive qualities like kindness and sincerity.
The research follows a recent study, analysing sources including television, books and magazines from the UK and US, which found negative descriptions of older adults outnumbered positive ones by six times.
Dr Ng said: ‘It was important to look at TikTok because it is so popular with younger people, and ageist views tend to be amplified within echo chambers.
‘Hopefully, by understanding what is behind these stereotypes, we can prevent them.’
Now TikTok takes on Twitter! Video streaming app launches text-only posts to give users ‘another way to express themselves’
TikTok has announced the launch of text-only posts as it takes on rival social media giants in the race to innovate.
The new format will allow users to create text-based content to share stories, ideas, poems, recipes or other written content, the app said.
People can add colours, stickers, hashtags and sounds to their text post, and can also ‘duet’ with other users on the platform.
TikTok has announced the launch of text-only posts as it takes on rival social media giants in the race to innovate
It followed the release of Threads, which was released by Mark Zuckerberg’s company Meta, owner of Facebook.
