Wired, retired and so hip it hurts

Oldies have taken to the digital age, says Amelia Torode, and so have their grandchildren. It’s the middle-aged professionals who fear and resent it

Almost 200 years ago a grassroots movement began in Nottinghamshire close to Sherwood Forest — the Luddite movement. The Luddites wreaked havoc for a short but intense period of time in a vain attempt to hold back the tides of technological change. I’ve been thinking a lot about their 21st-century equivalents — the new Digital Luddites.

It’s easy to assume that the older a person grows, the more reactionary they become; however, something interesting is taking place in digital space which is discounting that theory.

The biggest web-celeb from YouTube last year was not Paris Hilton or Posh Spice, but an octogenarian widower from Leicester, Peter Oakley. By his own admission, Peter enjoys a good bitch and grumble, often about the way society has taken a turn for the worse. You could easily make the assumption that someone like Peter would be a classic Digital Luddite, but you’d be wrong. He is actually a seminal figure in this newly converging world of digital media and mass entertainment. You may have heard of his online pseudonym: geriatric1927. This time last year geriatric1927 recorded a short autobiographical video and uploaded it to YouTube. He was hoping that his views on modern life and his memories of England during the second world war would strike a chord: ‘Hopefully some of you will respond,’ he says.

And respond we did. Within a week geriatric1927 had become the most subscribed user on YouTube. Buoyed by grassroots support, Peter continued filming and uploading his vlogs (video-blogs). Entitled Telling It All, they have been watched by almost three million people. In one webisode Peter says, ‘This YouTube experience has been one of the major changes and breakthroughs in my life and given me a whole new world to experience.