This article addresses the centrality of images in the definition of a new paradigm for ageing, when health (measured by autonomy) becomes a condition for freedom (associated with youth). Based on a 16-month ethnography conducted with older people (aged 50–80) in a middle-class district in São Paulo, Brazil, I found that smartphones empower older people to craft a health identity by engaging and producing content that highlights the positive aspects of ageing. In this community, health is a concept deeply associated with productivity, and social media becomes a space for participants to present themselves as busy, giving visibility to all of the activities they engage with. On WhatsApp groups, participants can also work as curators, sharing content that is in the public interest, which improves their collective experience of ageing and restores their sense of utility and dignity. I found that smartphones also allow participants to manipulate the mechanism of social comparison used to classify who is healthy and who is old. Often, when they have a condition or frailty, they confine themselves to online interactions, hiding from view the ageing body that could compromise their performance. By doing that, their declines are kept on the backstage of their social interactions, allowing participants to extend their presence within the third age, which is associated with freedom and autonomy, while the decline related to the fourth age is kept in the shadows.

当健康（通过自主性衡量）成为自由（与青年有关）的条件时，本文将在新的衰老范式的定义中解决图像的中心问题。根据对巴西圣保罗中产阶级地区老年人（50-80岁）进行的为期16个月的人种志研究，我发现，智能手机可以通过参与并制作突出正面信息的内容，使老年人能够塑造健康身份老龄化方面。在这个社区中，健康是与生产力密切相关的概念，社交媒体成为参与者展示自己忙碌的空间，使他们可以参与所有参与的活动。在WhatsApp小组中，参与者还可以担任策展人，共享符合公共利益的内容，改善了他们的集体抗衰老经验，并恢复了他们的效用和尊严。我发现，智能手机还允许参与者操纵社交比较机制，该机制用于对谁是健康人和谁是老年人进行分类。通常，当他们患有疾病或身体虚弱时，就会将自己局限于在线互动中，而看不到可能损害其表现的衰老身体。通过这样做，他们的衰落被保持在他们的社交互动的后台，允许参与者在与自由和自治相关的第三年龄段扩大他们的存在，而与第四年龄段有关的下降则被隐藏在阴影中。我发现，智能手机还允许参与者操纵社交比较机制，该机制用于对谁是健康人和谁是老年人进行分类。通常，当他们患有疾病或身体虚弱时，就会将自己局限于在线互动中，而看不到可能损害其表现的衰老身体。通过这样做，他们的衰落被保持在他们的社交互动的后台，允许参与者在与自由和自治相关的第三年龄段扩大他们的存在，而与第四年龄段有关的下降则被隐藏在阴影中。我发现，智能手机还允许参与者操纵社交比较机制，该机制用于对谁是健康人和谁是老年人进行分类。通常，当他们患有疾病或身体虚弱时，就会将自己局限于在线互动中，而看不到可能损害其表现的衰老身体。通过这样做，他们的衰落被保持在他们的社交互动的后台，允许参与者在与自由和自治相关的第三年龄段扩大他们的存在，而与第四年龄段有关的下降则被隐藏在阴影中。