What is life like for retired seniors? Urging children and grandchildren to get married and have children quickly, helping them take care of their offspring, circling the vegetable garden and kitchen... For Alexander Konstantinovich, a 70-year-old Russian elderly man, none of this is among his options after retirement.
On October 2, 2020, Konstantinovich posted his first video on the video website TikTok about the golden autumn, in which he pushed the camera of his mobile phone upwards in the direction of tree growth, and the screen full of yellow autumn leaves came into his eyes. Soon, the video had more than 8,000 likes.
Konstantinovich's TikTok has more than 200,000 followers. Image: Social networks
For decades, the use of special angles to take pictures and video special effects editing was a big hobby of Konstantinovich, and when he integrated his life story and humorous style into his works, people on the Internet immediately discovered the treasure grandpa.
By the time Konstantinovich released the seventh video, it had already surpassed a million views. Fans called him "Grandpa TikTok."
Not only Konstantinovich, but in Russia, the poetry and gardens of the elderly, hobbies and travel, daily life and life stories have gradually replaced the traditional beauty of the Internet sitting in expensive cars, becoming a clear stream conquering the Internet.
<h1>"It's not surprising that I became popular."</h1>
Last year, Konstantinovich, who lives in the Kurgan region of Siberia, underwent an operation and was discharged from the hospital with mild depression. Seeing the veteran soldiers who rode the battlefield all day long, granddaughter Sophia suggested that Grandpa set up his own channel on Instagram and TikTok.
"Life was very difficult during that time, and my granddaughter encouraged me to tell people my story." Konstantinovich said. The 70-year-old is a retired soldier living with his wife in the Kurgan region, where his son and daughter have long since established a family in other cities.
At first, Konstantinovich didn't have high expectations for what he posted, but the change started with the first video. The video quickly gained attention, and his fans grew, now with more than 200,000 followers. Konstantinovich, who has white hair and a white beard, once posted a video of himself turning himself into a green Christmas tree, which allowed him to successfully go out of the circle and caused massive retweets on multiple platforms.
In order to improve his shooting skills, Konstantinovich even went to st. Petersburg, where his granddaughter worked, for a 7-day course.
After returning, Konstantinovich released a lot of special effects videos and named his channel "Eternal Youth", where he posted video tutorials on how to edit video effects, shared past photos with fans, and told his family life and hobbies.
"It's likely that people are tired of looking at expensive villas, cars, yachts and golden toilets, and now people are interested in real life." Konstantinovich said, "It's not surprising that I became popular, people are just attracted to the real rich experience of life. ”
Through Konstantinovich's video, people also got to know his wife Valentina, and even said in the comments that they wanted to continue watching the video of them "sprinkling dog food".
Konstantinovich's wife Valentina often accompanied the performance. Source: Konstantinovich TikTok homepage
Konstantinovich told Quan that he and his wife were both classmates and good friends, "After graduating from school, I went to serve in the army, Valentina has been waiting for me to come back, we are married, it has been 49 years now." ”
Of course, people are interested in more than just how to make humorous videos, "We get a lot of questions about family life, raising children, and we answer them on Instagram." Konstantinovich said.
Regarding the lives of our children, Konstantinovich said, "Valentina and I have had a long experience as parents, but we have never interfered in the lives of our children, let alone urge marriage. ”
As for the view of love, Konstantinovich believes that when two people love each other, they always want to be able to spend time together. And two people should exchange opinions sincerely, and know how to respect each other rather than offend and hurt. This is the basis for a happy marriage.
"If this continues, the longer the time goes on, the stronger the love will become." He said.
From Konstantinovich's video, it can be seen that his room is decorated in the old Soviet style, and this old house and a vegetable garden are all the assets of him and his wife. When the video was viewed more than a million times, advertisers had already paid attention to the grandfather who was quickly becoming popular, but Konstantinovich said, "I didn't make videos for money, but for the soul." ”
But Konstantinovic has his own small goal, hoping to see Instagram followers rise from 12,000 to 15,000 by the end of March. I also hope that in the future, I can work with my granddaughter to train more elderly people and help them use social networks well.
<h1>Start a new life at the age of 50</h1>
From the Kurgan region to the capital Moscow, 63-year-old Garina Avila is an idyllic poetry blogger. She not only wrote poetry, but also lived her pastoral life into poetry.
In just one year, Garina's Youtube channel Let Life Go On has gained more than 50,000 followers. A video sharing how to build a garden trail garnered more than 2 million views. On her channel, Galina shares how she built garden paths and ponds with waterfalls in her own garden, reminiscing about her past lives, sharing recipes and creating poetry.
Garina's granddaughter, Lina, is in her garden. Image: Video screenshot
Galina told Quan that the turning point in her life came in 2008, when she was 50 years old and decided to leave Ulyanovsk, where she had lived for half her life, to develop in Moscow. "2008 coincided with the global economic crisis, even young people in Moscow couldn't find jobs, and I arrived in Moscow with only a diploma from an education institute and 20 years of teaching experience."
Through her work published on the poetry website over the years, Garina was given a job as a proofreader at a publishing house. It was also through poetry that Galina met her current husband, Seryosha.
"Don't be afraid of change, I only started a new life of happiness after I retired at the age of 50." Garina said.
A little over a year ago, Carriena decided to start her own channel on Youtube, "The theme of my channel is to bring kindness and warmth to the world. I'm just sharing my personal experience and hope it helps some people. For me, to make people happy, that's the greatest happiness. ”
Garina's video narration is also often her own reading of the poems she created that day. In the comments under the video, many people described her video footage and narration as a fairy tale, watching and falling asleep every night.
<h1>Live for yourself, other people's opinions are theirs</h1>
Unlike veteran Konstantinovich, Olga Kipriyanovna never refused to talk about how to make money from social media.
Olga is not the old man one might think of, wearing a leopard print hat, rhinestone sunglasses, going in and out of bars, and participating in extreme sports. "Age is just a number in a passport, and people of any age have the right to live the life they want," Olga wrote in an Instagram profile.
Olga, who went from dentist to blogger. Image: Social networks
Before becoming a video blogger, Olga was a dentist with 36 years of experience, and after retiring she moved from the Arkhangelsk region to St. Petersburg and from St. Petersburg to Moscow to participate in a project called "Moscow Longevity".
Olga's video style is very avant-garde, she will wear the most conspicuous clothes, apply big red lipstick, put on high heels, and walk out of the catwalk on the stage of life. It's hard to imagine that she was born in 1952 and is 69 years old this year.
"I'm a very active person, after I retired, I studied English, I traveled around, I rode my bike across the border to Finland, I went to model school until I reached the podium." Olga's Instagram account now has about 200,000 followers, "Someone used to remind me of my age and make me quiet, but my energy and courage didn't run out, I'm not 90, not 100, I'm just in my 60s." ”
Olga shares photos. Image: Social networks
After becoming a video blogger, Olga not only gained a lot of income by promoting clothing brands, women's bag brands, and beauty salons, but she was most happy to realize a dream she had when she was young - skydiving.
Too avant-garde and bold, Olga also sees a lot of malicious comments. In this regard, she said, "Keep learning and don't be afraid to change!" Don't get lost in this difficult world, don't care about what others say, it's all up to you. ”
<h1>Let the elderly realize their dreams and become financially independent</h1>
Konstantinovich, Galina, Olga, they all make their lives happy through social media.
What's more, for many elderly Russians, becoming an influencer is a way to achieve their dreams and economic independence.
In December 2020, a survey jointly released by the Russian portal Wanderer and the non-state pension fund Savings Bank showed that nearly 20% of Russian retirees want to become bloggers. 65% of respondents believe that becoming a blogger will not only bring fun in life, but also bring financial income.
Tatyana Rozovskaya, 66, uploaded the art of framed setting to the video site YouTube, not only to make the product sell better, but also to open a training class. Grandma Genia, 89, continues to share photos of her travels on Instagram, giving her more free travel opportunities, allowing her to not only stay in Russia, but also set foot on the land of Greece, Turkey, Finland and other countries.
The advent of social media has enriched the later life of many elderly Russians.
Russia is one of the countries that is rapidly aging. According to the classification criteria set by the United Nations "Population Ageing and Its Socio-Economic Consequences", when the number of elderly people aged 65 and over in a country or region accounts for more than 7% of the total population, it means that the country or region has entered an aging population. According to the Russian National Bureau of Statistics, at the beginning of 2020, the permanent population of Russia was about 146 million. The proportion of elderly people over 65 years old has reached 15.5%. Credit Suisse even predicted in 2020 that by 2060, the proportion of people over the age of 65 in Russia will reach 47%.
Russia is one of the countries that is rapidly aging. Image: Social networks
Russia has seen the emergence of many organizations to help the elderly live their retirement lives. Since 2018, the "Moscow Longevity" project has helped Russian seniors organize free learning activities, including foreign language courses, social media courses, modeling classes and art creation classes.
Vasily, a YouTube blog course trainer for the Moscow Longevity Project, said bloggers can benefit from the YouTube platform. One is that YouTube itself will earn $2 per thousand impressions for advertising, which may seem like a small amount, but when the fan base exceeds 100,000, the monthly revenue is considerable. The second is the placement of advertisers, but this depends on the price of cooperation between the bloggers themselves and the advertisers.
In Russia, the top three blogging platforms most popular with retirees are YouTube (33%), TikTok (17%), and Instagram (17%). According to a survey of the "Moscow Longevity" project in April 2020, 70% of the elderly who participated in the training admitted that they are active users of the Internet.
After becoming internet celebrities, these Elderly Russians not only found a new stage to show themselves, but more importantly, made their attitude towards life more positive.
During the live Q&A session, Garina presented her published poetry collection. Image: Video screenshot
Pastoral poetry blogger Garina was deeply touched by this. After becoming a video blogger, her life was busy and fulfilling, and she was more active in her life, live streaming on Youtube from time to time and interacting with her followers.
"I love beautiful things, I create beautiful things around me, and so do my videos," Garina said. It's like a piece of paradise. ”