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This document is an academic research article titl This document is an academic research article titled “Healthy Ageing and Mediated Health Expertise” by Christa Lykke Christensen, published in Nordicom Review (2017). It explores how older adults understand health, how they think about ageing, and most importantly, how media influence their beliefs and behaviors about healthy living.
✅ Main Purpose of the Article
The study investigates:
How older people use media to learn about health.
Whether they trust media health information.
How media messages shape their ideas of active ageing, lifestyle, and personal responsibility for health.
🧓📺 Core Focus
The article is based on 16 qualitative interviews with Danish adults aged 65–86. Through these interviews, the author analyzes how elderly people react to health information in media such as TV, magazines, and online content.
⭐ Key Insights and Themes
1️⃣ Two Different Ageing Strategies Identified
The research shows that older adults fall into two broad groups:
(A) Those who maintain a youthful lifestyle into old age
Highly active (gym, sports, diet programs).
Use media health content as guidance (exercise shows, magazines, expert advice).
Believe good lifestyle can prolong life.
Try hard to “control” ageing through diet and activity.
(B) Those who accept natural ageing
Define health as simply “not being sick.”
Value mobility, independence, social interaction.
More relaxed about diet and exercise.
Focus on quality of life, relationships, emotional well-being.
More critical and skeptical of media health claims.
2️⃣ Role of Media
The article describes a dual influence:
Positive influence
Media provide accessible knowledge.
Inspire healthy habits.
Offer motivation and new routines.
Negative influence
Information often contradicts itself.
Creates pressure to meet unrealistic standards.
Can lead to guilt, frustration, confusion.
Overemphasis of diet/exercise overshadows social and emotional health.
3️⃣ “The Will to Be Healthy”
Inspired by previous research, the article explains that modern society expects older people to:
Stay active
Eat perfectly
Avoid illness through personal discipline
Continuously self-improve
Older adults feel that being healthy becomes a moral obligation, not just a personal choice.
4️⃣ Media’s Framing of Ageing
The media often portray older adults as:
Energetic
Positive
Fit
Productive
These representations push the idea of “successful ageing,” creating pressure for older individuals to avoid looking or feeling old.
5️⃣ Tension and Dilemmas
The study reveals emotional conflicts such as:
Wanting a long life but not wanting to feel old.
Trying to follow health advice but feeling overwhelmed.
Personal health needs vs. societal expectations.
Desire for autonomy vs. media pressure.
📌 Conclusions
The article concludes that:
Health and ageing are shaped heavily by media messages.
Older people feel responsible for their own ageing process.
Media act as a “negotiating partner” — guiding, confusing, pressuring, or inspiring.
Ageing today is not passive; it requires continuous decision-making and self-management.
There is no single way to age healthily — each individual balances ideals, limitations, and life experience.... |