What was your Gran up to the last time you visited? Maybe she’d won a tenner on the bingo with her mates, or made some ‘exciting’ new purchases from the garden centre. Or maybe she’d videoed herself twerking, tweeted that she was ‘praying for all the basics’ and was in the midst of a one-woman campaign to get #livinglifeat88 trending on Instagram? Meet the Instagrans: the nannas taking on social media – and doing it better than you.
Some, like Helen Van Winkle (aka Baddie Winkle) have a global following.The 87-year-old American has over 220k followers onTwitter and 1.1m on Instagram. She became Instafamous a year ago when her great-granddaughter posted a picture of her in cut-offs, a Grateful Dead tee and white socks covered in pink marijuana leaves. Now, she’s amassing 70k+ likes on posts of her in crocheted bikinis, platform boots or (for jokes only, she says) puffing on weed.
Others, like Nonie Neville, 88, from Ireland, are using Instagram as a ‘project’ for later life. ‘My main hashtag is #livinglifeat88 as I want to show people that you can still have fun at this age,’ Nonie told Grazia last week. ‘My grandchildren and I love capturing our fun-loving nature. I’ve also been told I don’t act or look like I’m 88 and I wanted to encourage people that you can still embrace life at this age. I love planning my next Instagram but the main thing I like is the fact that when I do leave, my family will have these pictures to look back on.’ A recent post shows her drinking wine through a glasses-shaped straw, saying, ‘I was going to buy these for my grandchildren, but then I thought, nah.’
Recently, 77% of pensioners said living life to the full was more important than leaving money behind. And 70% follow fashion – see 93-year-old style icon Iris Apfel. Currently, the over-sixties make up 5% of people getting their first tattoo.
These seniors with sass simply don’t care what you think. So maybe we should listen to our elders after all...