These 70-year-olds are making waves online!

Think social media is for youngsters alone? Meet the septuagenarians who are putting paid to that with their sizeable fan followings

I remember asking my grandad, a few years ago, if he wanted to learn how to send a text. "I'll teach you!" I'd enthused. He was sitting in his favourite chair, engaged in his favourite pastime - watching the news - and he wanted none of it. Didn't even want to look at the screen because he felt all this "newfangled stuff" was way beyond him and his generation. In his mind - and to my great amusement - he'd already decided he was just not going to get it so, thanks but no thanks. Why, when he was living out his septuagenarian days in bliss, did he need to learn to punch little keys on a little device for?
Technology, and by extension, social media has long been seen as a domain ruled by the 'younger lot', so my grandad's mindset - and 'mindblock' - was no shocker. It's an outlook shared, almost without exception, by most of his peers. Key word: almost. Because, this week, we discovered - to our stereotype-busting delight - a few wonderfully white-haired exceptions to the norm. Older folks who are absolutely holding their own online - and giving all the younger lots a mad run for their money. Hashtag that.



FULL OF LIFE: (left to right) Sandra during her younger days, shooting commercials; a screenshot from her vibrant Instagram page
Sandra Sallin, 76
It's not everyday you meet a grandmother who's perfectly at ease chatting about Photoshop and filters and the need to create 'engagement' online. California-based Sandra Sallin is a 76-year-old blogger and goes by the Instagram hashtag #GRANDMArvelous ("because I'm a grandma and I'm marvellous!"). It's a contagious self-assurance that directs this spirited artist's approach to life itself. One look at her blog, Apart From My Art, or her Instagram page will tell you she's no frail old woman pottering around her home. This one is a storyteller - and how.
From tales of being kissed by wolves in Stanley, Idaho, to throwback pictures of the days when she starred in commercials or hung out on yachts with Hollywood stars like Yvette Mimieux and Albert Finney, Sandra's stories have her readers hooked - if the scores of comments on each post are anything to go by. And she responds to each one! "I think if people can take the time to stop and post a comment, I have the time to respond," she says, graciously.
Sandra started her blog four years ago, at the age of 72, when all her friends began to either fall ill or move away, and her world was "getting narrower and narrower". It was in a bid to expand that world that she decided to bite the bullet and blog. "I didn't know where my blog would take me, so I was quite surprised when people started writing in to say they found my life most fascinating," she explains.
Sandra's love for life is not the only thing that belies her age. It's her zest to learn. After teaching herself to blog using a website called Lynda.com, she went on to learn how to use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Dropbox - even Photoshop. "I don't think any of my friends my age know how to use it, but I love editing photos. Must be the artist in me," she muses. She even loves attending blogger conventions, recently meeting up with fellow publishing peers in San Francisco. It's a far shot from the days when she took a $99 class to learn how to use the Internet, or when she'd first gotten a computer and had to call up a friend's 11-year-old son to figure out what she'd done with the "hard drive icon".
So, what is it that drives her? "I love the challenge of learning new things," she says, happily. But more than anything else, she says, it's because she's not like other people. "I don't know if many folks my age still have that drive to learn more. With me, if there's a mountain to be climbed, I'll climb it!"
Glued to her iPhone, she starts her day with Instagram, listening to podcasts while she drives, and getting up to speed with the news via Twitter. No wonder then that when she stepped into an Apple store recently, the surprised attendant looking through her phone apps commented she was no "regular grandma". On how much is too much, she reflects, "I think you can make it into a waste of time, depending on how you use it. Social media is great fun, but if you can't walk a couple of blocks or get through lunchtime without looking at your phone, that's something I don't really understand."
Sandra is keen to continue learning "right till the end". Her kids, meanwhile, get a big kick out of her digital prowess and successes. "My son recently told me, 'You've got more followers than I do, mother!'" she recalls with a laugh. "I think I'm definitely giving them a run for their money."


NEVER SAY NEVER: Geri Brin started a lifestyle website called Fab Over Fifty for women over the age of (yep) 50 when she was 63

Geri Brin, 70
The age of 60 is usually equated with retirement plans. It's a time when most people look forward to wrapping up and slowing down, not starting a new venture - certainly not an online one. Consider New York-based Geri Brin a refreshing exception to the rule then because, in 2010, the former newspaper and magazine editor and publisher decided to found FabOverFifty.com, a lifestyle website for women over 50. She was 63.
"Ours is a generation that embraces new things," asserts the baby boomer, now 70. "We started a lot of new things in our lives, so just because we got older doesn't mean we're going to sit back and be old." One of those many 'new things' included having to embrace the seismic shift towards all things online. Geri remembers the invention of computers and the turn of the Internet era all too well. It's a story that goes all the way back to 1981, when she was a 34-year-old reporter at the New York Daily News. "When I got to that job, I asked my boss where my typewriter was, and she said, 'Oh no, we use computers.' I looked up and saw a whole bank of computers; they were mammoth things!" No one showed Geri how to use them - apart from how to log on - so, she taught herself how to file stories on the system.
Fast forward three decades, and the reason she decided to launch a publication online - despite spending an entire career in print - was because the direction in which the world of communications was changing was not lost on her. She admits it took her a while to embrace the Internet at first. "Who wants to remember all these 'www things'?" she used to ask. Geri recalls one of the 20-year-olds in her team talking to her about blogs a few years ago. "I thought the idea was ridiculous at the time," she says. "I said, 'Editors are important, not individuals. Who cares about what you or I think about the world?'" It's an attitude that quickly changed when she found out blogs were definitely here to stay, she laughs. "The older end of the baby boomer spectrum is probably where the resistance to the Internet is most," she notes. "But change is an important part of life and we must embrace it."
Geri loves Facebook now: mostly from a business standpoint - Fab Over Fifty has close to half a million followers there - but also for "political reasons, and to see what others are doing or thinking". Instagram took her "about two minutes" to figure out and she loves going on Pinterest to browse through the different creative ideas there. Geri says she tends to be online "all day", but it's mostly for business. "I'm constantly Googling stuff - I actually don't know how we did research before the Internet! You just have to be careful about the source of the info you rely on."
As much as she enjoys social media, Geri feels the way her generation uses these platforms is very different from the way youngsters use them. "When you're young, social media is more of a competitive tool - you want to impress everybody with your new baby, new job etc. I think older people use it more out of curiosity than for actual involvement. Personally, I like to occasionally comment on certain posts that make me mad and see how many 'likes' I get - but my activity online is generally far more observant, than involved."
Geri says she'd certainly encourage more of her peers to give the online world a shot - but also doesn't think they'll respond. "The Internet has been around for 20-30 years. So, if you haven't been interested till now, it's unlikely you're going to suddenly wake up and be involved!"
There's no question of slowing down for this grandmum of one though. "I get great pleasure out of being a productive person," she says. "Slowing down would just make me sad."


THIS ONE'S FOR POSTERITY: (left to right) Chan Jae Lee posts a new drawing every day; with his youngest grandson, Astro; a screenshot from his Instagram page
Chan Jae Lee, 76
Have you seen the video of how a grumpy 76-year-old grandad learned to use Instagram for the sake of his three grandchildren? Titled 'An Instagram love story', the heartwarming video was created by Chan Jae Lee's son, Ji Lee, late last year to share the family's story - and went viral almost overnight. 5.2 million views and 33,000 shares. In case you missed it, the story goes like this: when 46-year-old Ji Lee's sister moved back to Korea with her kids a few years ago, his dad, Chan Jae Lee, probably took it the hardest.
The South Korean family had lived in Brazil for most of their lives, and Senior Lee had loved dropping his grandsons to school every day. After the move, he became morose and spent all day watching Korean TV, so Ji and his mom, Kyong Ja An, tried to get him to kickstart his old pastime of drawing again, so they could post the images on Instagram. It was just to give Chan something to do, but the idea didn't go down very well at all.
"My dad hated it," recalls Ji, speaking to us from his New York home on behalf of his dad, who doesn't speak English. "He didn't see why he had to draw in the first place. But also, he was completely illiterate when it came to tech: he'd never used Google - let alone social media - and never even had an email address. We kept it up for about 6-8 months but he was very resistant throughout."
All of that changed when Ji's son, Astro, was born and Ji's parents visited him in New York. One evening, over dinner, Chan commented to his son, "I wonder what Astro will be when he grows up." The conversation sent Ji for a six. "I hadn't really thought of my dad not being around when Astro grew up. It really made me think hard about how I could ensure Astro knows what kind of a grandad he had, in case my dad was no longer around when he grew up."
That was the turning point for the project. Ji suggested that his dad keep drawing - only this time, they would create an Instagram page for the purpose. That's how Drawing for my Grandchildren began - and Grandpa Chan's artworks took on a more earnest appeal. From Korean traditions to birthday wishes and dinosaurs and cars (Astro's favourites), the themes and styles covered a great range. Grandma Kyong wrote stories for each in Korean, while Ji translated them into English and his sister into Portuguese. Chan was suddenly open to learning Instagram too. "It took about 10 days and a lot of patience," says Ji. "My dad had never used social media or a phone, so it was extremely difficult for him to grasp. Every step, from turning on the phone to clicking the right icon to taking a photo, was very slow. But, by the time he left New York, my dad knew everything."
When the video went viral, Ji says his dad was "more or less oblivious" to what that even meant. But with close to 300,000 followers and every post garnering likes by the ten thousands on Instagram today, Chan understands that the project has gone beyond just drawing for his grandchildren. "Lots of people have commented to say they've adopted him as their own grandfather; they tell him how much they look forward to his drawings, so now, even though the focus is still the grandkids, he tries to make it as relevant for as many people as possible."
Grandpa Chan is an Instagram pro now, editing photos, using filters and hashtags, and sharing each post on Facebook. "He loves being on Instagram and discovering other artists," says Ji. "He's pretty reserved, so he won't post any thoughts - but he's still there, browsing, reading, discovering. A lot of people his age aren't on social media, so I think he feels kind of cool that he's on it - and a little well-known!"
One of the biggest rewards of the project has been to hear from others who've been inspired to encourage their own parents to pick up a brush or camera again, he adds. The family is planning an exhibition of Chan's works in Brazil, and have already received dozens of emails from publishers wanting to publish a book of the works. The family has even started an online store to cater to the hundreds of requests, asking for prints of the drawings. "For the first time in many years, my father's earning his own money again through the prints," says Ji. "He's started a whole new career at 76!"
Ji, who works as a creative lead for Facebook, is grateful for the way in which smartphones have levelled the playing field for everyone. "There is no 'age' to start learning," he says. "Life expectancy is growing for our societies, as a whole. We're going to have more older people living longer lives. All of them have great minds and talents - they might just need a bit of help getting started, combining that creativity with connectivity or tech. Once they do, they'll be able to create wonderful things that could even have a ripple effect throughout the world. Look at my father. He is proof of that."

Insta tips from an insta pro
Sandra Sallin may be 76 years old, but her understanding of what makes Instagram pages click is, as they say, 'on fleek'. Some words to the wise:
1. Be engaged. You can't just sit back and expect the world to come to you. You've got to put yourself out there. So, don't just like people's posts; comment on them. And don't just say "Love it!" or put a little heart. Make intelligent comments. Or, at least, halfway intelligent ones, so they know you actually pay attention.
2. Develop an eye for good photos. How many cat or dog photos can you look at? There is more to life. Please tell me there's more! Personally, I didn't realise how many things I have around my house that would make for great photos - so look around. And don't just post any photo. You've got to have some depth, some meaning or history. something that draws people in.
3. Tell a story. Every time I put up a photo now, I try to tell a story. People really respond to that.
karen@khaleejtimes.com