Older Adults and the New Media

Hamish McKenzie is one of the founders of a new media platform called Substack. Substack is a platform that allows writers and content creators to publish and distribute content through newsletters, podcasts, videos and discussion groups. In a recent TED talk, Hamish stated "We are living through the most significant media disruption since the printing press..."

Seniors are most familiar with conventional media - newspapers, network and cable television - controlled by corporate entities that often have political points of view, think MSNBC, CNN, News Max and Fox News. And the best way for political figures to gain influence was to look good on television, and provide carefully "scripted" answers that were acceptable to the followers of one or another newspaper or radio/television news source.

But there has been a democratization of the media - individuals can now easily access online platforms to make their views available to everyone, everywhere. During the past election, Trump’s team took advantage of podcasts as a medium for political communication and outreach that gave Trump and his administration an opportunity to communicate directly with audiences without the filter of traditional media. It enabled them to communicate targeted messaging to specific demographic groups and build connections. Democrats learned that too late.

But those of us with opposing viewpoints can learn from Trump’s success. Independent podcasters and content creators on Substack and other platforms can use their voices to communicate to their audiences just as convincingly. We can use what he learned, to defeat his policies, combat autocracy and support our democracy. But there is a problem with podcasts that are directed at an older audiences like Specifically for Seniors. That is that most senior adults are unfamiliar with the platforms.

Those of us who produce content for older audiences must take it upon ourselves to teach our audiences how to access podcasts both in audio-only format and on platforms like YouTube. We must also introduce our audiences to Substack and the vast variety of former journalists, and independent media available on that platform.

We can and must not only create a learning environment, but must create a more personalized connection that our audiences trust.