282 / 658
280
Thursday, November 10
1 6 : 3 0 – 1 8 : 0 0
PP 722
Unknown Territories – Media Usage and Media Memories of Aged Finnish Women
S. Kivimäki
1
1
University of Tampere, School of Communication- Media and Theatre, Uni of Tampere, Finland
As frequently discussed, the aged population is growing quickly in most of the industrialised countries. In Finland, adults older than 65 constitute approxi‑
mately 20% of the population, and the majority are women (approximately 620,000). Consequently, elderly adults, especially aged women, will comprise
an even larger proportion of the media audience. Despite the rapidly growing aged population, musch of activity in communication and media studies
involves children, youth and young adults and their media use. The aged population – defined as people of retirement age – have lived through many
changes in the media landscape during the second half of the 20
th
century. For instance, the domestication of media technology has resulted in an enormous
increase in media offerings. General cultural values, including attitudes towards popular culture, have also changed, and cultural habits have become more
omnivorous over time. Understandings of private and public have undergone especially great transformations. The growing visibility of the private sphere
is often attributed to the trend of intimisation, and media genres have undergone massive transformations, such as talk shows and reality and makeover
programmes. As well, pornographic material has gained prominence in the public sphere. My postdoc study investigates aged womens’ media memories
and present relation to media, focusing on the domestic media use and its relation to everyday life practices. The focus of this study is on mainstreammedia
in general, defined as professionally produced (mass) media contents regardless of the publishing technology (i.e., newspapers, magazines, television, films
and their web versions) rather than on new technologies and amateur-based online media productions. It seeks answers to the following questions: 1) How
do aged women narrate their relation to the media landscape, such as newspapers, television, radio and the Internet? How are their media usage and moves
in that landscape intertwined with everyday life? 2) How do aged women narrate changes in the media landscape during their lifetimes? 3) How do aged
women narrate feelings and emotions caused by media contents, such as pleasure and displeasure? Exploring aged people’s experiences and memories is
challenging, especially when they are based on remembrances and reminisces. Both "experience" and "memory" are slippery categories with blurred bor‑
ders, blending the clear object of these activities. Earlier studies have shown that people talk in general terms about media contents, domestic space, daily
routines and their listening and viewing practices. To trace elderly womens’memories of and present relation to the media landscape, I investigate various
types of narrative materials; written memory writings and spoken narratives. In my presentation, I will discuss findings on written memory narratives, as
well as their character as research materials.The memory writings of aged women are collected in three locations inTampere area in 2015–2016: at the Uni‑
versity of the Third Age, in a suburban area community work association and in a volunteer center organized by the Lutheran Parishes.