Virtual spaces: ageism on social media - representations, reinforcement and resistance

Abstract

This chapter considers how informal social norms as well as formal rules and regulations pertaining to age are represented, reinforced and resisted on social media. It summarizes how older people are often perceived by others in society through structures and systems of ageism, and how generalized (mis)understandings of age, ageing and older people are present and perpetrated on social media at institutional, interpersonal and intrapersonal levels. Evidence is provided to demonstrate how social media can also be a site for reframing age and opposing ageism. Opportunities for, and challenges of, applying empirically supported anti-ageism strategies are presented pertaining to policy and law, intergenerational contact and education. Intersectional considerations are highlighted to show how ageism can compound with additional social identities and locations, and how future efforts can better attend to interdependent experiences of discrimination on social media and in virtual spaces more broadly.

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