Lifecourse Transitions: How ICTS Support Older Migrants’ Adaptation to Transnational Lives

Abstract

Lifecourse transitions from adulthood into older age are particularly complex for transnationalmigrants, bringing additional challenges and opportunities. Adding to the growing literature on ageing and migration, this article illustrates the ways ICTs facilitate the transnational lifecourse transitions of Vietnamese migrant grandparents in Australia through lifecourse digital learning. Research findings highlight the crucial role that digital citizenship plays in supporting migrant grandparents’ adaptation to increasingly mobile lives through practices of digital kinning and digital homing. These practices include using technological tools to maintain social support networks, exchange transnational caregiving, tackle language, navigation, and social integration barriers, and consume culturally relevant media, all of which support migrant identities and belongings. Findings confirm the importance of ICTs in promoting lifecourse digital learning for older migrants who are often stereotyped for their poor learning capacities and ability to adapt to new living arrangements because of their older age.

Globalisation and the value of Ulrich Beck’s concept of ‘cosmopolitanisation’ in orienting a new sociology of later life

“…No longer confined to the in-group of a single generation, such mediatised global citizenship helps overcome some of the intergenerational divisions occasioned by migration and the various unwanted sociocultural dislocations of globalisation (Nguyen et al, 2022). If old age was once determined by some combination of family, land and national welfare, later life is increasingly being realised in a transnational world, where successful citizenship (including successful senior citizenship) demands a certain level of digital competency and connectedness in order to avoid becoming not just 'old', but a member of the 'old old'.…”

Life-Course Perspective on Immigrant Loneliness: A Conceptual Framework for Intergenerational Loneliness Trajectories

“…Nonetheless, when second-generation immigrant adolescents are melancholic and have feelings of loneliness, a feeling of familial commitment based on these experiences and ties may help them through the tough process of adjusting to a lifestyle in an entirely different nation (Bacallao & Smokowski, 2007). In addition to this, using electronic kinning and electronic homing, both first- and second-generation immigrants can maintain their cultural and community identities, which in turn reduces feelings of homesickness, loneliness, and tedium (Nguyen et al, 2022). As a result, different generational immigrants can gain the strength and self-assurance they need to successfully navigate their new environments by feeling less loneliness, which is relevant to their history and place since they may become more active in arranging their environments.…”

Cross-border ageing in China’s Greater Bay Area in the digital age: A comparative study of mobile application adoption by Hong Kong older migrants and local older adults in Shenzhen

“…The study implies that the way that older migrants use digital technologies may also determine the positive or negative impact of use. Furthermore, Nguyen et al’s (2022) study on Vietnamese migrant grandparents in Australia suggests that digital use can support older migrants’ identities and belongings, through maintaining social support networks, social integration, consuming culturally relevant media, and navigation. Apart from the solely social aspect of integration, Millard et al’s (2018) study in West Australia argues that digital literacy and subsequent use of digital technologies enable older migrants to enjoy greater autonomy in everyday lives and participation into the society.…”

“…Existing literature demonstrates the context-specific responses of older migrants to the digital gap, their patterns of use in the host region, as well as how digital use impacts their integration and everyday lives in the host region. Previous research found that mobile app adoption in host region is dependent on older migrants’ socio-demographics, reasons for migration, and host- and home-region characteristics such as digitalization level (Baldassar et al, 2022; Goodall et al, 2010; Hunter, 2015; Nguyen et al, 2022). In the context of the GBA, existing research on cross-border ageing engaged by Hong Kong older adults in the GBA has mainly focused on cross-border portability of welfare (Cao, 2020), while social inclusion and the way their everyday lives are influenced by the digital gaps in terms of mobile app adoption lack comprehensive investigation.…”