With the latest technological gadgets available for anyone and everyone constantly changing and improving, the lines between generations have become blurrier than ever. What is the cause for this and what is the recipe for this so-called digital agelessness?
Nowadays on any social media platform one can find the average Gen-Z watching promotional content of influencers well out of their generation gap. The use of technology and the “easy access” to it means that anyone with a mobile phone and an internet connection can send a message to anyone around the world.
This can, and unfortunately will, also open the gate to bad influences to vulnerable people who will read the wrong message at the wrong time; but let’s focus on the “good” part of this.
In America there was a recent boom in this ageless generation influencer trend and formal television personality Martha Stewart is a testament to this. At the time of writing, Stewart is 80 years old and her recent marketing deal with a cosmetics company had many turning their heads as to what the definition of an influencer is and if the generation gaps in today’s society still exist?
Stewart’s recent “shock” marketing campaign has made her a heavyweight in the beauty influencer circle, at least in America.
Her history in the limelight of popularity had started with the millennial generation gauging over her on television sets while she cooked away in a kitchen in a studio and talked about her magazine which focused on lifestyle.
Although this was years ago, Stewart is still raking in millions of views well into her 80s. This in turn has helped her establish herself as an influential force in the ever-changing social media arena.
The recipe, which makes someone like Stewart shine, is the ability to adapt, not only to the audience but also to the times. When Stewart started her platform options were publications or television, nowadays the main platform is social media.
There is also a motivational drive; it feels as though people like Stewart still feel like they are in their prime, well into the late years of their careers. In sports one can see personalities like Serena Williams, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Cristiano Ronaldo who are constantly pushing the boundaries of what was thought possible from them at their age.
American singer Madonna had record label sales in various different decades each and every time adapting her style to the trends of the day and hitting the metaphorical gold mine each time.
It is as though these personalities have been given the prescription for life’s final stretch. From one generation to another these people inspire – be it in the beauty sphere, sports, music and so on.
The fact is that people from the so-called Generation X, born from the late 50s to the early 60s, are influencing the Gen Z crowd on platforms synonymous with the Gen Z.
From one generation to another, people like Stewart have taken their place as personalities in the lives of multiple generations and that adaptability is the so-called recipe to “digital immortality”. They have blurred the lines when it comes to what or who defines a generation; we are no longer limited so to speak to becoming inspired from within our generation but we can now say that age has become just a number.
Have they become ageless? Definitely, constantly re-inventing one’s self is what makes these people ageless. They did not only stick to what they do during a specific period of time, they adapted their methods and ways to remain relevant in today’s times.