Source:
https://scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3032496/older-hongkongers-taking-online-apps-and-social-media
Hong Kong/ Politics

Older Hongkongers taking to online apps and social media for latest updates on protests, and some may join rallies too

  • Survey shows ‘surprising’ proportion of over-55s turning to Telegram and LIHKG for updates on anti-government movement
  • Some older people want to know what their kids, grandkids are thinking; others seek latest news before joining protests themselves
Telegram is an encrypted messaging app popular with protesters. Photo: SCMP

Retired schoolteacher Bill Lau, 66, first learned about the messaging app Telegram and online forum LIHKG – platforms popular with protesters – from his friends and younger daughter respectively.

Curious, he downloaded Telegram and started checking out LIHKG links from his daughter, and now spends at least half an hour on them each day.

Both apps have played a critical role in the increasingly violent anti-government unrest, now in its fifth month. Protesters, who insist the movement is leaderless, have been using Telegram and LIHKG as virtual command centres to obtain updates, exchange details on how and where to gather, as well as share their views on developments.

The online platforms are popular with younger people who make up most protesters, but older Hongkongers like Lau have begun using them too.

“I’m also very concerned about the extradition bill crisis,” he says, referring to the now-withdrawn bill that would have allowed the transfer of fugitives to mainland China, among other jurisdictions, with which Hong Kong lacks an existing arrangement.

In a survey by Chinese University’s Centre for Communication and Public Opinion Survey early last month, 49 per cent of those aged 15 to 34 thought Telegram was important for getting information about the protests, while 61 per cent in that age group felt the Reddit-like LIHKG platform was important for such information.

About a fifth of those aged 55 and above said in the survey that they found Telegram important, and a similar proportion said the same about LIHKG.

Hong Kong has been rocked by four months of protests. Photo: Felix Wong
Hong Kong has been rocked by four months of protests. Photo: Felix Wong

The centre’s director, associate professor Michael Chan Che-ming, admits he was “quite surprised” to find so many older people using the apps.

“The figures show the older generation has picked up the applications quickly,” he says.

He believes the protests helped draw older people to the apps, and says this could indicate that older people want to know what younger Hongkongers, including their children and grandchildren, are thinking.

Older people may also want to know what is coming up next in the protest movement, with some of them going out into the streets themselves, Chan says.

He adds that he chose to classify those aged 55 and above as a group, because that is when many think of retirement, with their social circles narrowing.

‘You have to move with the times’

Sixty-year-old retiree Vincent (not his real name) says he uses Telegram and LIHKG because he cares and wants to know what young people are thinking.

He says he has changed his mind about Hong Kong’s youth and now appreciates their innovative and creative spirit.

“It is like an awakening,” he says. “I used to think that they only know how to play games, but now I realise that they are politically very mature.”

Vincent, who lives in Taikoo Shing, a middle-class private residential development in the east of Hong Kong Island, has not taken part in any demonstration, but has donated to support the protesters.

He says he is particularly impressed by the way LIHKG members composed Glory to Hong Kong, now regarded as the protest movement’s de facto anthem, and how they designed “world-class” advertisements published in newspapers around the world ahead of the G20 summit in June.

Bill Lau describes himself as not very tech-savvy and says he previously tended to use messaging apps WhatsApp and Line, and went on Facebook and the mainland messaging platform WeChat occasionally.

Some older Hongkongers turn to social media to better understand what the younger generation, especially their children and grandchildren are thinking. Photo: Dickson Lee
Some older Hongkongers turn to social media to better understand what the younger generation, especially their children and grandchildren are thinking. Photo: Dickson Lee

If not for the current unrest, he says, he probably would not have started using Telegram and LIHKG. Not many of his friends his age use them either.

Lau says he was keen to find out more after some pro-establishment camp members were cited on a web programme as calling Telegram, Apple’s AirDrop and LIHKG as hi-tech and scary.

“You cannot be so backward and need to move with the times,” he says.

On a radio programme two months ago, pro-establishment lawmaker Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee said that while protesters claimed the movement was leaderless, she believed there was a mastermind who used the apps to launch the large-scale protests.

Bill Lau supports the movement, has taken part in several protests and has been exposed to tear gas himself, but says he is against the use of violence.

He relies on Telegram and LIHKG for the latest news. For example, he follows a Telegram channel with information on human chain events, in which he has taken part.

“In the past, when I read the newspaper, I often read news on China first,” he says. “Now, I do not want to know anything about China.”

‘There’s too much information’

The importance of messaging apps and social media was also raised during a dialogue Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor held last month with 150 members of the public in an effort to mend ties with the community and find ways out of the ongoing crisis.

Participants criticised the administration for not listening and one of the 30 people who spoke told Lam that if she wanted to know what young Hongkongers were thinking, she should spend 15 minutes a day browsing LIHKG.

The ‘Protect the Children’ group outside Sha Tin Town Hall. Photo: Jonathan Wong
The ‘Protect the Children’ group outside Sha Tin Town Hall. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Aside from people like Lau and Vincent, other senior citizens have been lending their support to the anti-government movement, including thousands who joined a march in July.

A group of volunteers calling themselves “Protect the Children” got together in response to what they considered the increasing use of force by the police against protesters. Its members have become a regular presence at recent protests, and include a 73-year-old popularly known as “Uncle Chan”, who went on a hunger strike against the government for more than 10 days. 

‘Uncle Chan’, 73, is part of a group often seen on the front lines negotiating with police. Photo: Handout
‘Uncle Chan’, 73, is part of a group often seen on the front lines negotiating with police. Photo: Handout

As more senior citizens began appearing at the protests, some LIHKG members have called for a forum on the platform geared to the older generation. They suggested calling it Lotus Light, and said it should use a bigger font that is easier to read, and feature lotus flowers which older people like.

More channels on Telegram have also been started, targeting the elderly, including one with the latest information on silver generation-themed protests.

Some may welcome these moves, but for retirees like Lau, they might prove to be a data overload.

“There is too much information,” he says. “I do not try to read everything as I have other activities too, such as playing the guitar and running.”