Who Actually Becomes a Silver Surfer? Prerequisites for Digital Inclusion

Abstract

The notion of silver surfers has been recurring in research for two decades. It often refers to elderly skilled and affluent users of digital media. Departing from domestication theory, and drawing on the concept of online repertoires, this article sets out to offer critical insights into what it actually takes, sociologically speaking, to become a silver surfer. The analysis starts from a set of interviews with 19 respondents (66–82 years) covering appropriation and incorporation of digital media and online repertoires. Based on insights from interview data, we turn to a quantitative analysis of a national postal survey (Swedish). In these data (N = 1,264), we first filter out the silver surfers and then perform a logistic regression analysis in order to investigate the factors that promote the status of being a silver surfer. Our analysis shows that only 19% of the sample could be categorised as silver surfers. It further reveals the important influence of factors such as age, income, interest and self-efficacy in particular. Silver surfers are a privileged group. However, contemporary ICT policy tends to assume that they are representative of senior users in general. Thus, there is a significant risk that current policy objectives will be misdirected.

KEYWORDS:

• silver surfer
• ICTs
• digital inclusion
• domestication
• online repertoires
• mixed methods
• ageing population

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 Svensk Mediedatabas (Swedish Media Database), “Dagny Carlsson.”

2 Mediearkivet (Media archive), “seniors + e-commerce,” etc.

3 Our notion of online repertoires, as we have dealt with it elsewhere, is inspired by the concept of media repertoires. The latter concept has been elaborated by Uwe Hasebrink in conjunction with various co-authors in a number of publication (cf. Hasebrink & Domeyer 2012; Hasebrink & Hepp 2017; Hasebrink & Popp 2006).

4 Survey item: I like trying new technical devices and gadgets.

5 Survey item: How proficient are you as a user of digital media?

6 P1 is a public service channel that mostly covers politics, science and culture. Music is rarely played.

7 This specifically means that the respondent has used the online service of either the Pension Agency or health care or the Tax Authority.

8 On second thoughts, it is difficult to find any correlation since nine out of ten elderly people actually have children.

9 Swedish National Digitalisation Council: https://digitaliseringsradet.se/om-webbplatsen/english/

Additional information

Funding

This work was financially supported by the Familjen Kamprads stiftelse, The Kamprad Family Foundation for Entrepreneurship, Research and Charity.

Notes on contributors

Tobias Olsson

Tobias Olsson is Professor of Media and Communication Studies in the Department of Culture, Language and Media at Malmö University.

Dino Viscovi

Dino Viscovi is Senior Lecturer in Media and Communication Studies in the Department of Social Studies, Linnæus University, Växjö, Sweden. Email: [email protected]