The Digital Granny: Staging Grandparents on Social Media

This article engages with the framing and performance of grandparenthood on social media and specifically discusses the intersection of the role of grandparent and gender. It thus takes into account that even though the internet tends to be read as a realm for younger generations, the new media and social media in particular play a prominent role in the lives of older people. Hereby, this article wonders how being a grandparent, a role that is commonly associated with the non-digital and the domestic and that tends to be approached with binary gender norms, can be performed in the digital realm. By focusing on three case studies from the U.S. and the UK—“Grandad Joe” Allington, Ross Smith and his grandmother Pauline “Granny” Kana, and Trisha “YourFitGrandma” Goldsmith—this contribution follows the presence of grandparents on social media, prominently TikTok and Instagram. While these successful accounts illustrate the presence of older generations in the digital realm, the discussion suggests that their staging still relies on referencing well-known gendered stereotypes of older people in general and grandparents in particular. Moreover, the discussion emphasizes the pivotal role of both younger audiences and grandchildren in the staging of grandparents and thus also resonates with the matter of authorship on social media.