Abstract
The impact of Internet usage is posited to be pivotal for the mental health of older adults, yet research exploring the influence of online social media and smart lifestyle media on mental health has been sparse. Furthermore, there is a scarcity of studies examining the mediating role of online media usage frequency and life satisfaction. Utilizing the MIMIC model and mediation analysis with data from the 2020 China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS), the present study discerned that both online social media use and smart lifestyle media use were positively correlated with the mental health of older adults (coef. = 0.41, p < 0.001). Moreover, the findings suggest that online media use could enhance the mental health status of older adults by augmenting life satisfaction (coef. = 0.080, p < 0.05). The frequency of online media utilization mediated the relationship between online media use and mental health among this demographic (coef. = 0.077, p < 0.05). Consequently, internet service providers, communities, and adult children are advised to offer affordable network access services and usage guidance to older adults to facilitate their integration into the online community.