Relational components in the use of digital devices and apps: Mapping media appropriation processes among older adults in Sweden

Abstract

Since access to and use of digital devices and applications often become more challenging with age, it is important to study how media appropriation processes unfold later in life. The present article contributes to existing research by applying the concept of transaction – developed within relational sociology – to study digital media appropriation. Using this concept, I focus on how older adults’ relations with various actors (known others, distant others, and non-human transactors) fuel the appropriation of digital devices and apps. Drawing on interviews with 22 older adults (70–94 years of age), I identify four types of appropriation processes. This shows the diversity of ways in which digital devices and apps enter the lives of older adults and the diversity of agentic roles in media appropriation. The results also reveal how a sense of coercion in media appropriation was present among the older adults, especially in relation to their children.