The implications of information and communication technology use for the social well-being of older adults

Abstract

Older adults, comprising a population segment more vulnerable to social isolation during the late life stages, are more likely to be excluded from the benefits of information and communication technologies (ICTs) as well as from the focus of ICT research. Addressing this research gap concerning the currently fastest growing sector of ICT users this study centers on the disparities regarding older adults’ ICT access and use. Because the effects of ICTs cannot be uniform for all users, the digital inequalities older adults experience might have different influences on their social lives when compared to other populations that have been studied in the previous literature. Drawing on surveys from 1780 older adults, ages 60 years and older, residing in six suburbs in the Chicago area, this research links older adults’ digital inequalities to their social well-being. We demonstrate that while socio-economic status remains the major factor affecting their quality of life, social and instrumental ICT uses can also contribute to their well-being in varied and unexpected ways. From these results, we draw implications for the study of digital disparities by examining how the impacts of ICTs vary by differential uses and different age groups.

Keywords:

• digital inequality
• older adults
• social well-being
• social engagement

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Jennifer Ihm is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Communication Studies at Northwestern University and is participating in the Network for Nonprofit and Social Impact. Jennifer is interested in how organizations use information and communication technologies (ICTs) to engage the community and extend their online engagement to offline environment. [email: [email protected]]

Yuli Patrick Hsieh is a survey methodologist and digital sociologist in the Program on Digital Technology and Society at RTI International’s Survey Research division. His research focuses on the implications of ICTs for social relationships and digital inequalities in people’s life outcomes. He also examines how to integrate ICTs into survey methodology to facilitate mixed-method research design. Patrick received his doctoral degree from the Media, Technology, and Society Program in Northwestern University’s School of Communication. [email: [email protected]]

Notes

1. The marital status did not have a significant effect on the major variables, so we did not include it in the models reported here.

2. The general rule of thumb is that a VIF factor larger than 10 indicates a multicollinearity problem. A low threshold (VIF = 5) is often used for more robust detection (O'brien, 2007).