From Online to Offline and Vice Versa: Change in Internet Use in Later Life Across Europe

Abstract

The internet can be a valuable source of social participation in modern society. Although increasing numbers of older adults are using the internet, numerous older adults also cease using the internet and become "offliners." The question of which factors in usage change (i.e., switching from onliner to offliner, and vice versa) are most influential remains unclear. This study investigates changes in internet use among the older European population using two waves of representative panel data for 13 countries from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). The analyses were based on 34,149 respondents aged 50 years and older. In general, the results indicate a positive trend by a slight (2%) increase in usage, from 51% in 2013 to 53% in 2015. However, the results also show that a total of 6% had not recently used the internet, although they had done so in the past. Our multilevel results suggest that both the onset of and cessation of internet usage are primarily driven by changes in socioeconomic resources (income and occupation), health resources (subjective health and grip strength), living situation (via relocation), and social factors (partnership and distance to children) as well as contextual factors such as country-specific wealth and social indexes and internet infrastructure. The study underlines the importance of investigating the influencing factors for commencing internet usage and of determining which factors lead to its increase.

Digital transformation of everyday lives of older Swiss adults: use of and attitudes toward current and future digital services

“…The aim of the study was to add to a relevant and growing research field that addresses everyday use of digital services by older adults as well as their openness to using future digital public services. A major but not unexpected finding for the sample was that older adults showed a noteworthy level of digital services use in Switzerland (compared to data about internet use in our sample 80% use the internet, whereas 53% in Europe aged 50 years and older do (König and Seifert 2020 )); however, the same older adults showed some problems with the use of these digital services. In addition, the study showed that among the participants a considerable number of people have positive attitudes toward existing digital services, but only a small number of participants are open to using future digital public services.…”

The Use of Virtual and Augmented Reality by Older Adults: Potentials and Challenges

“…Nevertheless, older adults use the internet and smartphones less frequently than younger adults (Anderson, 2019). A survey across Switzerland and 16 European Union countries reported that only 53% of people aged 50 and older used the internet (König and Seifert, 2020). The survey also indicated that internet use among older adults was predicted by personal factors, such as age, gender, education, income, health, and prior experience with technology.…”

Digitale Transformation in den Haushalten älterer Menschen

“…So zeigen Studien aus Europa, dass z. B. nur 53 % der Personen ab 50 Jahren das Internet nutzen [ 5 ].…”

“…Werden die vorliegenden Daten mit anderen internationalen Studien verglichen, zeigen sich ähnliche Trends in der Zunahme der „modernen“ Technologien (z. B. Smartphone, Internet, Tablet), dennoch zeigt der Vergleich mit europäischen Daten [ 5 , 6 ] anhand der Internetnutzung, dass die Schweiz im Vergleich z. B. zu Deutschland insgesamt höhere Nutzungszahlen bei den Personen ab 65 Jahren aufweist.…”

“…ob sich auch die begründeten Faktoren einer Internetnutzung über die Jahre verändert haben. Internationale Studien [1][2][3]5] liefern erste Hinweise darauf, dass einerseits beeinflussende Faktoren z. B. der Internetnutzung sich über die Jahre angepasst haben.…”