“We are old people, and we are slow to learn”, said Auntie Li with a big smile. Surprisingly, these elderly Shanghainese appeared willing to talk with me about Pinduoduo. They also buy things from Pinduoduo, so ask them if there is anything you want to know”, she said, introducing me to two aunties and uncles aged 60 and above. “We, a group of old people, work out here every day. She gave me a tour around the square, after which we stopped to greet her friends. She quickly walked to me, greeting me in a friendly and joyful voice. Auntie Lu looked pretty energetic and clever in a purple sports suit. Nervously waiting in the square, I saw someone approaching and waving their hands at me. Rarely had I been involved in the world of older adults, let alone of the ‘Shanghai aunties’, famous in China for being picky and hard to deal with. While I was looking forward to this meeting, I was at the same time a bit worried. It was a late autumn evening when I first saw Auntie Lu and her followers. How could older adults like Auntie Lu, often considered living on the margins of the digitalised society, become experts in using such complex applications and accumulate a social reputation? I was intrigued. Some vendors even claim to be authorised, genuine stores when selling counterfeit goods, operating as knockoff shops.įake New Balance shoes branded as New Bolune on Pinduoduo.Īccording to my previous interviews, it took effort even for the digitally savvy younger adults to identify the genuine products from the countless fakes. For example, New Balance shoes frequently appear as New Bolune or New Bunren. However, this platform is also known for being the ‘kingdom of counterfeit products’, where users need to be careful to avoid fake goods pretending to be from well-known brands. On Pinduoduo, users can also find official flagship stores of well-known brands, such as Apple and Samsung, giving it a similar appearance to Amazon. It is one of the largest e-commerce platforms in China, serving close to 900 million users and providing a wide range of products, from home appliances to daily groceries, at highly competitive prices. Pinduoduo, to some extent, represents the dazzling and messy new digital world. Older adults have long been portrayed as vulnerable, passive, and helpless when facing new technologies. It was the missing piece of my Pinduoduo puzzle. I realised that I knew almost nothing about the digital life of older adults, as all my previous interlocutors had been under 45 years old. “You may not believe it, but my aunt once wore a dress to a relative’s funeral, and several older ladies at that funeral asked for the purchase link”, said Yi. More recently, with the growing popularity of online shopping among seniors, her influence has extended to the digital field, and she has gained many followers who trust her personality and taste. After decades of working in the community centre providing life services, Auntie Lu has accumulated a favourable reputation among the nearby residents. She is super active and skilled in using Pinduoduo, and kind of influential among her friends”, my friend Yi told me, knowing I was seeking people to talk to for my fieldwork on the Chinese shopping platform Pinduoduo.Īccording to Yi, her aunt Ms Lu is an influencer among older adults (people older than 60) in the neighbourhood. No matter how much I wanted to share this impressive conversation in detail, I could only make some silhouettes. It describes the first time I got to take a closer look into older adults’ digital lives. The material came from my fieldwork in Shanghai during 20 when I was researching people’s daily use of digital applications, and the story had been on my mind for a long time. I was sitting in front of my IKEA tea table while drinking herbal tea. ![]() ![]() The piece was first written on a rainy afternoon in Helsinki on the 14th of October, 2022.
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