India, Nov. 17 -- Many retired officials, professors and public figures have taken up a new role on social media. They appear at every event, speak on every issue and try to guide public opinion with ideas from their past. Their followers still treat them as authority figures, so their voice carries weight.

The trouble is that their views stay rooted in a time that has already changed.

These elders often speak with great confidence. They share long stories about how they handled problems in their own careers and how society worked better in their days. Their tone leans toward nostalgia. They rarely acknowledge how much life has shifted for young people.

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