Old on Instagram
Beloved friends,
How are you holding up? What’s keeping you afloat?
Right now, Rebecca and I are hard at work putting the finishing touches on a new website and counting down the days to unveiling the new name of this endeavor.
I am pretty excited to share it with you soon. That’s what’s keeping me going.
I feel passionate about this work and believe in it.
In 2020, that means spending a lot of time on Instagram and here’s what I notice:
I am one of the oldest people, by far, on my Instagram feed.
Look at the photo above.
What's your response when I say that I am aging, I look older, and this will only continue?
How can we have a conversation about age without interjections of compulsive comforting such as "you look good!", as if "old" is synonymous with "bad"?
Instagram is having a moment right now, but data shows that the vast majority of Instagram users (86.7%) are under 45 years old and only 1.9% of users are over 65.
I want to talk about aging on Instagram.
Not "defying" age, or staying "sexy" as we age, or aging with "grace". But actually aging. I have some questions:
How does Instagram perpetuate ageism?
What slices of life do we actually get to see on social media?
What does life look like without a filter?
What are we protecting ourselves from?
We need to ask ourselves who is being left out of this conversation without resorting to dualism, essentialism and dismissiveness. Can we move beyond Millennials vs. Boomers, Gen-Z vs. Gen X?
Join to conversation here.
Much Love,
Christina
P.S. On the topic of staying afloat, I am finding that continuing the work of interrogating my role in upholding White Supremacy gives me a sense of purpose right now. This week I am re-reading Radical Dharma by Rev, angel Kyodo Williams, Lama Rod Owens and Jasmine Syedullah, PhD. If you are looking to add a liberatory lens to your meditation practice, I cannot recommend this book enough!
P.P.S. If you’ve read this far, thank you! I invite you to join my mailing list for occasional musings and updates on retreats and events. I won't spam you, or share your data. Let's start supporting small businesses on platforms they own!