What happens when senior people stand in front of the camera to share their daily life and even become online influencers, breaking the stereotype?

A community worker teaches a senior citizen how to use her smartphone to shop online in Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang province. （Xinhua/Xu Yu)

“Qinba Nainai” (a grandma who lives in the Qinba mountainous area in northwest China’s Shaanxi province) is an account that has gone viral on video-sharing platforms such as Douyin, Kuaishou and Bilibili.

Having more than 2.73 million followers on Douyin, the account records and shares the daily life of an older couple in a mountainous village. On the platform, videos showing the grandma cooking Shaanxi food have received 34 million likes from viewers.

Admit it or not, today’s senior people are keeping up with the trends with confidence and passion, and have an advanced understanding of consumption.

In those videos, some senior people show their young mindsets when they record sweet moments interacting with their other halves, children or grandchildren, with some sharing their life experience. When they share their thoughts, viewers always feel a sense of reliability.

Some senior celebrities have also become influencers. In May, a livestream show presented by a senior celebrity with an online name of “Woshitianlaolao (I’m Grandma Tian)” achieved a sales volume of 1.5 million yuan (over $214,000).

The number of netizens in China had reached 904 million as of March this year. Among them, 150 million people are 50 years old and above, according to a report on China's internet development.

A report released by China Development Research Foundation indicated that by 2022, about 14 percent of the total population of China will be aged 65 and above, and is projected to rise to 27.9 percent by 2050.

Li Jia, deputy director of the Pangoal Institution Aging Society Research Centre, believes that senior people should have more channels to unleash their potential and take part in social progress. It’s time the stereotype that senior people know nothing about the digital market be changed.