Displaying intergenerational solidarity on TikTok during the COVID-19 pandemic: understanding the implications in the grandparent-grandchild relationship

Abstract

The habits of families are affected during the COVID-19 pandemic, with limitations to socialization or visits. Grandparents and grandchildren use social media to sustain interpersonal relationships, as well as display intergenerational solidarity to others. This paper presents a qualitative content analysis of the display of different dimensions of intergenerational solidarity between grandparents and grandchildren during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, on TikTok. The analysis extends the understanding of intergenerational solidarity between grandparents and grandchildren on TikTok, by highlighting which characteristics or activities they find important to display to other users of the platform. The results suggest that grandparents and grandchildren value qualities of physical touch and family celebrations (i.e., affectual solidarity), and big life events (i.e., normative solidarity). Moreover, grandparents and grandchildren refrain from consensual solidarity on TikTok, but other categories of intergenerational solidarity provide clues to differences in the public display of their respective roles.

Young Adults’ Perceptions of Intergenerational Solidarity and Conflict: The Renegotiation of Compliance with Restrictions During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Several have also included compliance with COVID-19 restrictions (Jaureguizar et al, 2021; Nearchou et al, 2022; Nivette et al, 2021; Oosterhoff et al, 2020; Padrosa & Bolíbar, 2022; Shaikh et al, 2021). But to our knowledge, research on intergenerational solidarity and conflict from the perspective of young people is limited (with the exception of Nouwen & Duflos, 2022; Timonen et al, 2021). Studies examining intergenerational solidarity and conflict, such as the experience of ageism, mainly do so from the perspective of older people (Ayalon et al, 2021; Swift & Chasteen, 2021).…”