Societal Participation of the Elderly: Information and Communication Technologies as a “Social Junction”

Abstract

The technoscape is described as the global configuration of technology as well as its intermingling and intertwining with other spheres of society. In fact, society and technology are hard to separate. Technology and the overall technoscape influence lifestyles and living conditions; conversely, developing, implementing and utilizing technologies all shape the technoscape. Starting from this interdependence, we examine how sociotechnical configurations determine social participation among the elderly in rural regions. To investigate the extent to which social participation of the elderly may be enhanced, a tablet PC with a self-developed communication platform was submitted to a field test. The results of our qualitative analysis show three ideal-type developments: the emergence of a new participation space, the extension of established participation space and engagement in the existing participation space. Technology as a “social junction” can thus have positive impacts on the social participation of the elderly.