[Commlist] Call for chapters - Baby boomers as Couch potatoes: Aging in the Platform Age and the politics of digital media (Palgrave Global Media Policy and Business Series)

*Call for Chapters *

/Baby Boomers as Couch Potatoes: Aging in the Platform Age and the 
Politics of Digital Media /

Palgrave Global Media Policy and Business series (under review)

*Editors:* Lucian Georgescu (UNATC), Constantin Parvulescu (UBB) //

*Series Editor: *Petros Iosifidis (City St. George’s, University of 
London)**

This volume examines the intersection between the Baby Boomer generation 
(broadly defined as born between 1946–1965, therefore including the 
so-called sub-set ”Jones generation”) and the digital media ecosystem 
they now inhabit as retirees. We aim to investigate how global 
platforms, media policies, and content economies frame, include, or 
marginalize this increasingly relevant demographic. We seek to spark a 
much-needed conversation about how one of the world’s most populous and 
diverse generations lives, watches, resists, adapts, and redefines media 
after retirement.


We invite original scholarly chapters exploring how Baby Boomers 
interact with or are positioned within today's global media systems, 
particularly in terms of digital access, streaming, social isolation, 
nostalgia, algorithmic bias, civic engagement, and economic agency.


The volume will be organized around four main thematic axes:

 1. *Globalization*: Cross-border content flows, the expansion of OTT
    and streaming platforms, and the role of global vs. local content
    for aging users. Particular attention will be given to studies that
    focus on peripheral or emerging markets in and beyond Europe.
 2. *Business/Economics*: The "silver economy" in media consumption;
    marketing to 50+ audiences; economic marginalization vs.
    monetization of aging viewers; platform strategies and commercial
    design (subscriptions, UI/UX, retention models).
 3. *Policy and Regulation*: How EU and national frameworks (DSA,
    accessibility, data protection, media literacy, active aging
    policies) address or ignore older users. Comparative analyses of
    regulatory models and their effectiveness in addressing digital
    inequality are encouraged.
 4. *Critical Perspectives*: Structural exclusion, digital alienation,
    algorithmic ageism, boredom and overconsumption, affective media
    strategies (e.g., nostalgia, emotional manipulation), and pathways
    to reintegration, digital media activism, civic agency, or
    intergenerational connectivity.


*Possible chapter directions include (but are not limited to):*

  * Baby Boomers' streaming habits
  * Post-retirement media use: autonomy or passivity?
  * Nostalgia, memory, and national archives in the digital space
  * Representations of aging in global platform content
  * Algorithmic personalization and older users
  * Media-driven loneliness and digital coping rituals
  * Accessibility in UX and platform design
  * Boomers as political publics online (e.g., Facebook communities,
    WhatsApp networks)
  * Platform fatigue and "post-linear" audience behavior
  * Comparative case studies across national or linguistic contexts
  * Analysis of EU and national digital policies targeting or neglecting
    aging populations
  * Impact of the Digital Services Act and Media Freedom Act on
    age-inclusion
  * Designing age-friendly media regulations: standards, incentives, and
    gaps
  * Media literacy initiatives and digital rights for older adults
  * Policy challenges in peripheral or emerging markets for senior
    inclusion in digital ecosystems

*
*

*We especially encourage scholars in smaller, peripheral, or emerging 
media markets*, to contribute with local case studies or comparative 
insights.


No payment is requested; on the contrary, the editors are in the process 
of securing the needed financing for Open Access publication  to 
maximise exposure and free academic readership.

*
*

*Submission Guidelines:*

  * Abstract: 300–400 words
  * Short bio: 100 words per author
  * Language: English
  * Chapter length: 6,500–9,000 words (if accepted)

*
*

*Timeline:*

  * Abstract deadline: November 15^th  2025
  * Notification of acceptance: January 2026
  * Full chapters due: July 2026
  * Final revisions: within 6 weeks of editorial feedback
  * Publication TBA 2027


Please send abstracts and bios (Word or PDF) by November 15^th  to 
Lucian Georgescu at (lucian.georgescu /at/ unatc.ro) 
<mailto:(lucian.georgescu /at/ unatc.ro)>





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