Algorithmic Ageing

Typically integrated among digital platforms and interfaces, age apps such as Aging Booth, Oldify, FaceApp, incorporate algorithms that learn how humans age. These ageing algorithms are being fed data from images, texts, purchases, content and the other actions that individuals at various ages provide alongside or through digital technologies. Ageing apps and algorithms in social media may seem trivial, but underneath we find critical questions about these algorithms that have effects beyond the advertisement of anti-ageing cream or other age-related products. On one hand, algorithms offer us a look into our future selves. On the other, they invite us to reminisce about the past, such as the #10yearchallenge that pervaded social media in 2018. As these technologies construct public perceptions on ageing bodies, questions around transparency, accountability and identity underline these digital spaces, calling for research to explore how these algorithms are contributing to our ageing society.