Internet use among older Europeans: an analysis based on SHARE data

König, Ronny; Seifert, Alexander; Doh, Michael

doi:10.1007/s10209-018-0609-5

Cited by 272 publications

(218 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…European Union countries, for example, showed that only 49% of people aged 50 and over used the Internet (König, Seifert & Doh, 2018). The study also indicated that Internet use among older adults is influenced by personal factors such as age, gender, education, and income.…”

Section: Internet Use Among Older Adultsmentioning

confidence: 88%

Older adults’ perceived sense of social exclusion from the digital world

Seifert

Hofer

Rössel

2018

Educational Gerontology

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A great deal of information and many services can now be accessed digitally. In order to make use of such services, however, it is necessary to have some form of Internet access. A lack of involvement in digital society may produce new forms of social exclusion. Older adults are particularly at risk of Internet-related social exclusion, since they tend to use the Internet less than younger adults. Little is known, however, about whether this lower level of Internet use among older people is in fact accompanied by a sense of social exclusion. In order to investigate the subjective sense of digital social exclusion resulting from a lack of Internet usage, we conducted a secondary analysis of a representative, cross-sectional telephone survey of 1,037 adults aged 65 years and over and living in Switzerland. We found that 33% of "onliners" reported that they would feel socially excluded were they to stop using the Internet, compared with 14% of "onliners" who felt socially excluded on account of their lack of Internet use. Our analyses show that onliners' attitudes toward Internet use and the variety of online applications available were related to their sense of social exclusion. By contrast, offliners' attitudes toward Internet use and their feelings of loneliness in general were predictors for their sense of social exclusion as a result of not using the Internet. The results of the study as well as its implications for research and practice are discussed. AbstractA great deal of information and many services can now be accessed digitally. In order to make use of such services, however, it is necessary to have some form of Internet access. A lack of involvement in digital society may produce new forms of social exclusion. Older adults are particularly at risk of Internet-related social exclusion, since they tend to use the Internet less than younger adults. Little is known, however, about whether this lower level of Internet use among older people is in fact accompanied by a sense of social exclusion. In order to investigate the subjective sense of digital social exclusion resulting from a lack of Internet usage, we conducted a secondary analysis of a representative, cross-sectional telephone survey of 1,037 adults aged 65 years and over and living in Switzerland. We found that 33% of "onliners" reported that they would feel socially excluded were they to stop using the Internet, compared with 15% of "offliners" who felt socially excluded on account of their lack of Internet use. Our analyses show that onliners' attitudes toward Internet use and the variety of online applications available were related to their sense of social exclusion. By contrast, offliners' attitudes toward Internet use and their feelings of loneliness in general were predictors for their sense of social exclusion as a result of not using the Internet. The results of the study as well as its implications for research and practice are discussed.

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Section: Internet Use Among Older Adultsmentioning

confidence: 88%

Older adults’ perceived sense of social exclusion from the digital world

Seifert

Hofer

Rössel

2018

Educational Gerontology

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“…In fact, among adults of all ages, receiving offers of technical support from friends and family relate to both Internet adoption and the continuance of Internet use (Hsieh, Rai, and Keil 2010), as well as better Internet skills (van Deursen and van Dijk 2011). For older adults, having potential support in their midst, such as a partner who uses technology, relates to a greater likelihood of being an Internet user (König, Seifert, and Doh 2018), while a lack of technical support may create a hindrance to going online (Friemel 2016;Lam and Lee 2006). Qualitative work shows that technical help via intergenerational relationships (i.e., support from grandchildren) in particular is important for digital technology adoption (Barbosa Neves, Amaro, and Fonseca 2013).…”

Section: Social Support and Help With Technology Usementioning

confidence: 99%

“He Explained It to Me and I Also Did It Myself”: How Older Adults Get Support with Their Technology Uses

Hunsaker

Nguyen

Fuchs

et al. 2019

Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World

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Given that older adults constitute a highly heterogeneous group that engages with digital media in varying ways, there is likely to be large variation in technology support needs, something heretofore unaddressed in the literature. Drawing on in-depth qualitative interviews with a multinational sample of older adults, the authors explore the support needs of older adults for using digital media, including their perceptions of whether the support they receive meets their needs. Participants obtained assistance from both informal (e.g., adult children) and formal (e.g., computer classes) sources. However, the support given can lack immediacy, leaving older adults dependent on others’ availability to provide it. Educational approaches that emphasize individualized support and wide availability might allow an improved experience for a population that is increasingly online with an interest in a wide range of activities.

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“…Older adults continue to lag behind the general population when it comes to using information and communication technology ( König et al, 2018 ; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2019 ). Unsurprisingly, they are also stereotyped as having less technological ability than younger age groups.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Too Old for Computers? The Longitudinal Relationship Between Stereotype Threat and Computer Use by Older Adults

et al. 2020

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Besides having lower rates of technology adoption than the general population, older adults are commonly stereotyped as lacking technological ability. Stereotype threat, the fear of confirming negative stereotypes targeting their social group, may lead individuals to distance themselves from the stereotyped domain. This suggests that older adults may underuse computer technology due to stereotype threat. A sample of 86 community-dwelling older adults ( M age = 78.47, SD age = 7.92) participated in a two-wave longitudinal study aiming to examine the relationship between stereotype threat and computer use in this age group. An autoregressive cross-lagged panel analysis was conducted using structural equation modeling. As expected, stereotype threat predicted lower levels of computer use a year and a half later. In turn, computer use was unrelated to the later experience of stereotype threat in this domain. These findings suggest that stereotype threat may undermine computer adoption in late adulthood, thus contributing to perpetuate the digital inequalities between younger and older generations.

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Internet use among older Europeans: an analysis based on SHARE data

Cited by 272 publications

References 33 publications

Older adults’ perceived sense of social exclusion from the digital world

Older adults’ perceived sense of social exclusion from the digital world

“He Explained It to Me and I Also Did It Myself”: How Older Adults Get Support with Their Technology Uses

Too Old for Computers? The Longitudinal Relationship Between Stereotype Threat and Computer Use by Older Adults

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