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Understanding older adults’ use of social technology and the factors influencing use

Gemma Wilson, Jessica R. Gates, Santosh Vijaykumar, Deborah Morgan Orcid Logo

Ageing and Society, Volume: 43, Issue: 1, Pages: 1 - 24

Swansea University Author: Deborah Morgan Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1017/s0144686x21000490

Abstract

Having access and skills to use social technology, i.e. social internet use, social media and social applications, are considered as being vital to online social connection. Whilst evidence exists around facilitators and barriers to general technology use, evidence is limited with regards to the mot...

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Published in: Ageing and Society
ISSN: 0144-686X 1469-1779
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2021
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa57255
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first_indexed 2021-08-02T14:49:42Z
last_indexed 2023-01-11T14:37:02Z
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spelling 2023-01-05T12:45:36.2877304 v2 57255 2021-07-01 Understanding older adults’ use of social technology and the factors influencing use 6ab809844c56957c0e9773518a251516 0000-0002-3107-3945 Deborah Morgan Deborah Morgan true false 2021-07-01 PHAC Having access and skills to use social technology, i.e. social internet use, social media and social applications, are considered as being vital to online social connection. Whilst evidence exists around facilitators and barriers to general technology use, evidence is limited with regards to the motivators, skills and tangible offline benefits older technology users experience with social technology. Therefore, this study used a qualitative, exploratory method to understand older adults’ experiences of using social technology to connect with others. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 older adults (65+ years) across England, Scotland and Wales. Despite having access to social technology for social connection, and using this technology regularly, multiple barriers impacted motivators and skills for use, namely perceived self-efficacy and fear, the culture of online communication, absence of social capital and physical functioning. Some of these barriers of social technology use are reminiscent of barriers of wider technology use and emphasise the importance of addressing these barriers for digital exclusion, as well as social connection. However, some of these barriers were specific to social technology use and should be considered when providing guidance or interventions to increase older adults’ online social connection. Social connection was a clear tangible outcome to social technology use, and individuals discussed the benefits of using social technology, particularly visual communication tools, for online connection. Journal Article Ageing and Society 43 1 1 24 Cambridge University Press (CUP) 0144-686X 1469-1779 20 4 2021 2021-04-20 10.1017/s0144686x21000490 COLLEGE NANME Public Health COLLEGE CODE PHAC Swansea University This work was supported by the British Academy/Leverhulme small research grants (grant number SRG18R1\180818) 2023-01-05T12:45:36.2877304 2021-07-01T16:05:20.0137328 Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences The Centre for Innovative Ageing Gemma Wilson 1 Jessica R. Gates 2 Santosh Vijaykumar 3 Deborah Morgan 0000-0002-3107-3945 4 57255__22592__b981c16dd9d944469fb1969d05769b86.pdf 57255.pdf 2022-03-14T16:03:09.8616110 Output 438057 application/pdf Version of Record true © The Author(s), 2021. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Understanding older adults’ use of social technology and the factors influencing use
spellingShingle Understanding older adults’ use of social technology and the factors influencing use
Deborah Morgan
title_short Understanding older adults’ use of social technology and the factors influencing use
title_full Understanding older adults’ use of social technology and the factors influencing use
title_fullStr Understanding older adults’ use of social technology and the factors influencing use
title_full_unstemmed Understanding older adults’ use of social technology and the factors influencing use
title_sort Understanding older adults’ use of social technology and the factors influencing use
author_id_str_mv 6ab809844c56957c0e9773518a251516
author_id_fullname_str_mv 6ab809844c56957c0e9773518a251516_***_Deborah Morgan
author Deborah Morgan
author2 Gemma Wilson
Jessica R. Gates
Santosh Vijaykumar
Deborah Morgan
format Journal article
container_title Ageing and Society
container_volume 43
container_issue 1
container_start_page 1
publishDate 2021
institution Swansea University
issn 0144-686X
1469-1779
doi_str_mv 10.1017/s0144686x21000490
publisher Cambridge University Press (CUP)
college_str Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofmedicinehealthandlifesciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofmedicinehealthandlifesciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
department_str The Centre for Innovative Ageing{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences{{{_:::_}}}The Centre for Innovative Ageing
document_store_str 1
active_str 0
description Having access and skills to use social technology, i.e. social internet use, social media and social applications, are considered as being vital to online social connection. Whilst evidence exists around facilitators and barriers to general technology use, evidence is limited with regards to the motivators, skills and tangible offline benefits older technology users experience with social technology. Therefore, this study used a qualitative, exploratory method to understand older adults’ experiences of using social technology to connect with others. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 older adults (65+ years) across England, Scotland and Wales. Despite having access to social technology for social connection, and using this technology regularly, multiple barriers impacted motivators and skills for use, namely perceived self-efficacy and fear, the culture of online communication, absence of social capital and physical functioning. Some of these barriers of social technology use are reminiscent of barriers of wider technology use and emphasise the importance of addressing these barriers for digital exclusion, as well as social connection. However, some of these barriers were specific to social technology use and should be considered when providing guidance or interventions to increase older adults’ online social connection. Social connection was a clear tangible outcome to social technology use, and individuals discussed the benefits of using social technology, particularly visual communication tools, for online connection.
published_date 2021-04-20T04:12:51Z
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score 11.016235

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