Older People and Digital Disengagement: A Fourth Digital Divide?

Abstract

Digital technologies are becoming more pervasive in all areas of society. Enabling everyone to have access and capability to use the Internet and associated digital technologies, summed up in the term ‘digital inclusion', is seen to have wide-ranging benefits to the individual, to the economy and to society. For older people, being digitally included can help them to maintain their independence, social connectedness and sense of worth in the face of declining health or limited capabilities, as well as also offering new opportunities to improve their quality of life. At present however, access to the technology and to the benefits is not equally distributed either between or within nations, and older people tend to be on the ‘wrong' side of what is termed the ‘digital divide'. Governments globally are developing strategies to promote digital inclusion and indeed Internet uptake is increasing steadily, including amongst older people. However, such strategies have focussed on getting people online, and there appears to be an assumption that once someone is online they will remain ‘digitally engaged'. In fact statistics show that some users give up using the Internet, and there is emerging evidence that older people are more vulnerable to the factors which can lead to this outcome. The authors see this phenomenon as a potential but largely unrecognised ‘fourth digital divide' which has serious implications for social inclusion. The objectives of this article are (a) to raise awareness of the phenomenon of digital disengagement by considering some of the emerging evidence, (b) to explore someof the potential implications of not recognising and therefore not addressing the needs of the digitally disengaged older population, and(c) to reveal the prevailing gap in knowledge which future research should address.

Life satisfaction in the internet age – Changes in the past decade

“…Using the internet for communication may help reduce social isolation, loneliness, and depression among older adults (BlitCohen & Litwin, 2004;Cotton, Ford, Ford, & Hale, 2012;Lelkes, 2013;Olphert & Damodaran, 2013;Zhang & Kaufman, 2015). Computer-mediated information technology may help older adults enhance communication with family members and friends, expand opportunities for lifelong learning (Freese, Rivas, & Hargittai, 2006;Sundar, Oeldorf-Hirsch, Nussbaum, & Behr, 2011), extend social support networks (White et al, 2002;Zhang & Kaufman, 2015), enrich personal interests and health-related information and open additional entertainment resources for exploration (McMellon & Schiffman, 2000;O'Hara, 2004).…”

“…Access to the technology and to its benefits is not equally distributed either between or within nations (Guerrieri & Bentivegna, 2011), including Western countries, and worldwide, older people tend to be on the 'wrong' side of the digital divide (Lissitsa & Chachashvili-Bolotin, 2015;Olphert & Damodaran, 2013). Moreover, senior citizens older than sixty can be identified as the social group having the lowest level of participation in the information society (Fuglsang, 2005).…”

An Analysis of the Impact of Cell Phone Use on Depressive Symptoms among Japanese Elders

“…Older adults especially stand to benefit from technological connectedness [18,19,20]. Individuals often experience social withdrawal after retirement and a loss of meaningful relationships, as well as physical and cognitive impairment with age, and these life events tend to increase the risk of feeling lonely, powerless, isolated or depressed [21].…”

Exploring potential in participation mediated by digital technology among older adults

“…Reasons for this include insufficient access, computer illiteracy, reduced functional capacity, lack of motivation or interest, and decreased financial capability (Kottorp et al, 2016;Leist, 2013;Olphert & Damodaran, 2013). Aside from age-related health and ability, other factors that influence seniors' adoption of technology in daily life are self-efficacy, social relationships, attitude to life and satisfaction, facilitating conditions, as well as, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use (Chen & Chan, 2014;Davis, 1989).…”