Aspects of Internet use among older people: Sociological research

Abstract

Information and communication technologies have become an integral factor in the daily lives of people over the last decade. Although their usage allows significant advantages, there are still a lot of people in the world who do not use such technologies. In industrialized countries, the reason for this is not in economic factors, but age seems to be a significant determinant of the digital divide. Recently, however, the number of older adults taking advantages of the Internet has been growing. Numerous authors state that a key aspect of successful aging is to remain actively involved in life in old age. In this regard, it is pointed out that online communication and new media present many new opportunities and challenges for the social inclusion of older people. The aim of this paper is to examine the attitudes and opinions of older people towards the use of the Internet and the reasons for its use. The research was conducted using the 2019 survey method on a sample of 240 people over the age of 65 residing in the Šibenik-Knin County in the Republic of Croatia. The results of the survey show that, although more than half of the respondents have an Internet connection, only a fifth own a computer or a laptop. One third of the respondents uses the Internet every day, and most of them did not attend a course to help them use it. They point out that they easily mastered the rules of the network, in which their family members gave them a support and help. Respondents most often search the Internet for the purpose of informing, especially about daily events, then for the entertainment, cultural education and communication with others. More than half of them have a profile on social networks, mostly on Facebook. Despite all this, they do not emphasize the great impact of the Internet on their lives, and believe that the Internet often takes up a lot of free time. Also, more than half of the surveyed population does not use the Internet because they are not interested in it, do not have the financial means to buy a computer. The reason is that they are suspicion of endangering their own security and privacy. However, those not using the Internet state that their accessing to information is not limited because of that. They also point out that the only motivation for starting using the Internet would be the necessity of communicating with their families.