Nordic population-based study on internet use and perceived meaningfulness in later life: How they are linked and why it matters

Abstract

Aim: The aim was to explore the association between internet use, the use of specific internet-based activities and perceiving life as meaningful, among older adults in two regions in Finland and Sweden. Methods: The data was collected through a population-based survey ( N = 9386) as part of the GERDA project conducted in 2016. In order to analyse the associations between perceiving life as meaningful and internet use and related activities, odds ratios with a 95% confidence interval were calculated using binary logistic regression analysis, where socio-demographic factors and health status were controlled for. Results: Statistically significant associations were found between perceiving life as meaningful and internet use in later life. When looking further at the specific internet-based activities under study, activities related to leisure and entertainment showed a statistically significant connection to perceived meaningfulness in later life, after controlling for socio-demographic factors and health status. Conclusions: The results indicated that there was a statistically significant positive association between internet use and perceiving life as meaningful in later life. Online activities related to leisure and entertainment seem to be especially associated with perceived meaningfulness. Although causal direction could not be determined, the results suggest that internet use may support the experience of wellbeing in everyday life among older persons, through the unlimited access to interest-driven activities that it provides.

Exploring the Nuanced Links Between Internet Use and Subjective Well-Being Among Older Adults: A Nordic Population-Based Study

“…Between-group comparisons in the study at hand revealed that after adjusting for potential covariates among variables measuring individual characteristics, socio-environmental factors and health status, internet use overall seems to be statistically significant only in the association to perceived meaningfulness, not to happiness nor life satisfaction. The results regarding the connection between internet use, internet activities and perceived meaningfulness in later life have previously been published (Viklund et al, 2021). However, the study at hand advances the previous study results by simultaneously exploring two other dimensions of subjective well-being in addition to perceived meaningfulness.…”

“…A set of variables measuring individual characteristics (gender, age) and socio-environmental factors (study region, educational level, income level, marital status) are therefore included in the analyses related to this study. These variables are recoded, and the cut-off points for the recoding process are chosen in accordance with other scientific articles based on the GERDA study (e.g., Forsman et al, 2012;Viklund et al, 2021).…”

“…However, the internet activities were based on a multiple answer question, meaning that the older adults used internet for more than one purpose at a time. More descriptive statistics of the study sample is presented elsewhere (Viklund et al, 2021).…”

“…In a previous study (Viklund et al, 2021) we explored the association between perceived meaningfulness and internet use in later life among older adults in Finland and Sweden. The findings from this study indicated statistically significant positive associations between the measured component of eudaimonic subjective well-being (i.e., perceived meaningfulness) and internet use-both when looking at general use and at internet activities related to hobbies and entertainment in particular.…”