Old age, social media and religion

The population of Turkiye over the age of 65 is increasing. In contrast, the proportion of social media users in this group is also increasing. Social networks affect the lives of people from all age groups of society. Now these virtual media provide a new analysis ground for understanding social change. This study aims to analyze the changes in question in terms of sociology of religion, based on the social media practices of religious conservative nationalist individuals aged 65 and over. For this purpose, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 women and 18 men, as well as two focus group interviews of four social media users in different venues. In interviews with social media users included in the scope of the thesis, data were collected using the sociological intervention method. The theoretical framework of the study consists of the topics of old age, religion and social media. The discussion part is based on the abstraction of data obtained from interviews and cyber-ethnographic observations. İn The thesis was focused on the following questions: How does social media, which has become a part of the life of the elderly with smartphones, produce meaning in their world? What problems does social media solve in the life of the elderly? how does socialization take place on the mentioned platforms? What is the attitude of the elderly towards virtual and reality dichotomy? The transformation around the phenomena of space, memory, and privacy has been mirrored from the perspective of sociology of religion. In addition, the reflection of the activities that the elderly participate in on social media during the retirement period was analyzed within the framework of Activity theory and the Uses Satisfaction approach. In the study, it was determined that the mentioned digital platforms provide social capital to individuals who have lost their status due to retirement. However, it has been determined that the symbolic value of the number of followers and likes on social media is not important for the elderly. While talking about social problems and their own generation, individuals over the age of 65 turned to the discussion of a generation through young people. Therefore, the elderly aim to guide rather than appear in their social media posts. Again, the people in question do not distinguish between online and offline in their daily lives. It has been observed that they have a hybrid socialization experience.