Beyond independence and with care: reimagining older adults’ digital agency with a granfluencer

Promoting digital literacy in older adults has been discussed as key in counteracting social inequality and the exclusion of older adults. How­ever, little has been discussed about what is presented as the desirable outcome of this approach, that is, older adults’ ability to navigate the digital space independently. Is an older adult’s agency limited when their digital usage or navigation is a shared experience? How do we frame and understand digital agency of older adults who are helped to engage with digital technology? Drawing on feminist ethics of care, this paper exam­ines granfluencers – older online figures who gained significant following on social media platforms – to revisit the concept of digital agency beyond the constraints of independence. It provides a case study of Makrye Park, known as the “Korea Grandma,” who runs her social media accounts with her granddaughter. Analysing Park’s Instagram posts and YouTube vlogs, this paper illustrates the way Park pushes back against the traditional idea of digital agency by accepting and thriving through care. In particular, I take a close look at how Park’s unapologetic expression of intersectionality as a lower-class, digitally “unskilled,” older Asian woman establishes her as a powerful digital agent. By extending feminist ethics of care into the digital realm, this study thus offers a new perspective on digital agency for older adults – one that is born in co-creation and through care.