Technophobia as emerging risk factor in aging: Investigation on computer anxiety dimension

Abstract

Digital innovation changed the daily living impacting Quality of Life of individuals. Our study was focused on adult and elder behavioural approach to the technology. Out study aimed to investigate the impact of technology use in not digital native in order to investigate the behavioural degree of adaptation. An observational study was conducted on adult and old subjects (age range 50–67 years) measuring computer anxiety and technology use ability variables identifying the indexes for technophobia risk in digital living. Not digital native subjects and more older ones appeared being influenced by technophobia features because of feeling themselves as inadequate in the management of technology. Oneway ANOVA and then Bonferroni’s post-hoc analysis showed that non-autonomous (p<0.01), low-frequency (p<0.01), and feelingneed- for-help users (p<0.01) had higher levels of computer anxiety. No significant effect was in gender distribution. Finally, social networking seems related better use of technology and lower anxiety for digital solutions. Our findings highlight technophobia as a possible new risk factor for not digital native because it can affect their daily life through lower adherence to digital solutions; rather than aging successfully, they could develop fragile ageing. More, they seemed inadequate to use the digital solutions for better living in aging.

Understanding Age Differences in Technophobia: A South African Case Study

“…Using the measurement scale (the Computer Anxiety Rating Scale) developed by Rosen et al (1987), these authors concluded that computer anxiety increases with age. In contrast, Bozionelos (2001), Di Giacomo et al (2020), Dinello (2006) and Dyck et al (1998) found that older adults demonstrated less anxiety than younger adults. They attributed this to older adults' experience and increased exposure to technology that is particularly useful to older and retired people.…”

“…Technophobia has been defined as irrational fear, anxiety and apprehension towards new technologies that manifests in the person's unwillingness to adopt various forms of technology (Kamberidou & Patsantaras, 2004). The term technophobe refers to an individual who resists the use of technologies, while technophile describes an individual who is attracted to technology (Di Giacomo et al, 2020). Technophobia was depicted in literary works such as Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and movies such as Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times.…”

“…It has five constructs, namely, techno-paranoia, techno-fear, techno-anxiety, cybernetic revolt and communication device avoidance. Given that previous studies have focused on the demographic profile of individuals and their levels of technophobia (Di Giacomo et al, 2020;Hechanova & Dioquino, 2004;Martínez-Córcoles et al, 2017;Nestik et al, 2018), the current study adopted a similar approach by included age, educational level and employment status of the study's respondents.…”

Anteseden Keahlian Operator Sistem Pengelolaan Aset Desa Di Kabupaten Situbondo

“…Dalam pikirannya muncul beberapa pesan negatif seperti misalnya saya akan menekan tombol yang salah, atau saya akan mengacaukan mesin ini. Unconfortable user terklasifikasi sebagai kecemasan yang tidak membahayakan (Di Giacomo, Guerra, Perilli, dan Ranieri, 2020). Kecemasan ini terjadi jika seseorang memiliki sedikit kekhawatiran dan masih muncul pernyataan negatif, tetapi secara umum tidak membutuhkan penanganan khusus.…”

An Empirical Study on Challenges Faced by the Elderly in Care Centres

“…Affordability is proven as a negative association with usage intention [44]. Telemedicine solutions, for example, their inhabitation sometimes become infeasible because of high implementation complexity and cost [51]. A mature commercial technology always has low cost in implementation and maintenance services.…”