December 2023
By Richard Fleming
Photo courtesy of Getty Images
I’m not closely tuned in to social media, which leaves me unaware of many developments in our culture. Unless a new trend gains traction in mainstream publications or television news, I probably won’t know about it. Which may be just as well. Many of these social-media-created cultural phenomena are ephemeral and fanciful. My 72-year-old mind has a hard enough time retaining important information, like remembering the plant watering schedule. It’s just as well I remain blissfully ignorant of fleeting fads.
But there is an interesting trend I recently read about which surfaced earlier this year. It pertains to the challenge of growing old gracefully, and has become quite popular on one of the younger generation’s preferred social media sites, TikTok. This site offers what is called an “aging filter” which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to take a person’s current face and make it appear old. Many young people are using this filter to post videos of themselves looking much older than they really are. Doing so is a source of delight and amusement for their friends and followers.
Folks who upload these humorous videos often start their clips without the filter, so they look young, smooth, and unblemished. Then they turn on the filter to suddenly look much older, with wrinkled sagging skin and thinning gray hair. The person posting often voices shock about their new “old” look, though with a wink and a nod so everyone watching the video can share in the joke.
Another approach young folks use to generate clicks is to upload a video doing something they typically present on TikTok – eating out, cooking, doing laundry, decorating their living space – but they “forget” to turn off the aging filter before the video starts. So it seems an old person is doing those activities. Of course, at some point the person realizes the aging filter was left on “by mistake.” They turn off the filter and heave a sigh of relief that they are now back to normal.
As I learned about this clever phenomenon, my first reaction was one of dismay. I felt it reflected young people mocking the elderly, poking fun at us to score cheap points and increase their social media “likes.” There is enough generational conflict in society already. We have no need to further increase the communication gaps and misunderstandings.
But as I thought more about this phenomenon, I realized the humor and dismay provoked by the aging filter may reflect the concern young people feel about the prospect of aging. Some fear growing old more than they fear death itself. The laughter and attention generated by TikTok’s aging filter may stem from anxiety more than from humor.
So I should not overreact to what might be a fleeting cultural phenomenon. I certainly do not want to increase inter-generational tension.
As I think back on my younger years, I can empathize with today’s youth feeling concerned about growing old. In my teens and twenties, I enjoyed being energetic and vigorous. I was not eagerly looking forward to growing old.
If there had been some mechanism to artificially age my appearance in a photograph when I was young, I probably would have tried it out. Would I have found such an image funny? Or concerning? It’s hard to say. But I do know I would not have widely shared this image with my friends and acquaintances. Actually it would have been impossible to do so even had I wanted to, since social media did not yet exist.
Now that I have gained some experience with the aging process, I feel I should try to reassure young folks that it is not as bad as they may think. As I wrote in a previous post, old people enjoy some benefits not available to young people. An aging filter on TikTok may show the physical appearance of aging, but it cannot reveal the pleasures of growing old. Such as they are. Aging filters cannot predict a person’s future.
The main social media site used by old folks is Facebook. What if Facebook offered a “youth-ing filter” that took our images and dropped 50 years off our age? Then we seniors could post videos and photographs where we’re engaged in old folks’ activities, but look like we’re in our 20s. Now that would truly be humorous. But it would also be humbling. Hopefully AI programmers will not pursue this project anytime soon.
* * *
If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to be notified of future posts. Subscriptions are free.
Thanks, Richard. I learned something new!
I’d imagine there’s some app out there that de-ages our faces. But I’m content with mine, as increasingly wrinkly as it is.
Happy holidays!
Guilty as charged. I too remember not too many decades ago while commuting to work on I80. Quickly approaching a slow moving auto causing slow downs I couldn’t help myself but glancing over to see who the” slowpoke” confirming ,yep an senior. Then a decade later trying with keeping up with the flow of traffic that had increased by20 plus MPH. I now no longer felt safe traveling 90mph since my reaction time had slowed down also as myself. Now a decade has past why am I still trying go with the flow. Could it be I don’t want to see the shaking of the head, honking of the car horn,. I don’t want people thinking just another senior poking down the road. Solved this problem just staying in the middle lane at the posted limit, and shaking my head as I quickly glance over who is driving. Yep, thought so a _________
Funny! I’ve long been surprised how, when we see poor driving or a bad driving maneuver, we want to get a look at the driver. Is it that we have preconceived notions of what a bad driver looks like and we want to confirm those notions? We really do this. We look, and more often than not, say “Yep, thought so …”. Less often it’s “Oh, what a surprise. Must be a fluke.”
By the way, I’ve always told myself that no matter how annoying it may be at the time, someone going the speed limit is always OK. So now that I actually do go the speed limit I don’t feel so bad 🙂