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YouTube and intergenerational communication: the case of Geriatric1927

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Abstract

This paper presents a case study of a 79 year old video blogger called ‘Geriatric1927’, and his use of the video sharing website, YouTube. Analysis of his first eight video blogs, and the subsequent text responses, reveals opportunities of this medium for intergenerational contact, reminiscence, reciprocal learning and co-creation of content, suggesting that older people can be highly motivated to use computers for social contact. The paper concludes by noting the importance of technologies that are socially engaging and meaningful for older people, and pointing to ways in which the social life of YouTube might be better promoted on its interface.

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Notes

  1. For example, in the UK, the 50+ population is expected to grow from 33.5% in 2002 to 37% in 2012.

  2. UK National Statistics Online report [“UK’s National Statistics Online - Older People: Population”, 2002, http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=874] the term ‘older people’ is assigned to those aged 50+ years.

  3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youtube provides an overview of YouTube, last accessed Dec 5 2006.

  4. http://adage.com/digital/article.php?article_id=110632, last accessed Dec 5 2006.

  5. ‘We received permission via email from ‘Geriatric1927’ to study his video postings and the responses made to them. We have had subsequent communications via email with Peter and have received feedback from him on an earlier draft of this paper where he stated that “the way that you used me as an example was both flattering and accurate”.

  6. As at Dec 5 2006, Wikipedia listed Geriatric1927 as one of the top 10 ‘notable YouTube celebrities’—http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube.

  7. See “Targeting Seniors: Strategies to Promote Online Marketing Relationships in Healthcare”, Datamonitor Report Oct 2003. Available from http://www.nhionline.net/products/research/datamonitormr36.htm.

  8. For example, see “Silver Surfers day targets the over 50s”, The Register, 21 May 2004.

  9. Peter’s respondents are identified within the text by pseudonyms rather than their original YouTube names.

  10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonelygirl15 outlines the saga of lonelygirl15 on YouTube, last accessed Dec 19 2006.

  11. It is clear from the videos made by this YouTuber that they are in fact much younger than 100 but more likely to be in their teens.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by the UK EPSRC through the Equator IRC Project (EPSRC GR/N15986/01). Many thanks to the reviewers for their helpful comments and to Peter (Geriatric1927) for allowing us to analyse his videos and the comments relating to them.

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  1. Department of Informatics, Interact Lab, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9QH, UK

    Dave Harley & Geraldine Fitzpatrick

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Correspondence to Dave Harley.

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Harley, D., Fitzpatrick, G. YouTube and intergenerational communication: the case of Geriatric1927. Univ Access Inf Soc 8, 5–20 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-008-0127-y

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