The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the integration of technology into the lives and physical environments of people globally, while it has highlighted the disparities and digital inequities within our society. Technology use reinforces classical inequalities between rich and poor, majority and minorities, old and young. This in turn for some people has resulted in mixed experiences since 2020, they have been able to work from home, be more productive, while for many more, the sense of loneliness, and social isolation has increased greatly. Post-pandemic digital realities re-shape the discussion on the overcome ability and the belief in a successful adoption of the digital technologies later in life, also about the obstacles and challenges associated with the sustained use of technology, as for example the technostress and issues regarding privacy and surveillance. For older adults in particular the new digital spectrum raises issues regarding attitudes and technology awareness, self-trust and the mitigation between online and offline activities.
Understanding people’s digital repertoires in a pandemic scenario is focused on the vulnerable social groups – those already described as having higher technostress and difficulties to engage with the latest communication technologies, as for example older adults. Improving digital skills at such groups is presented as an emergent call for action. For example, a recent study on the EU population 55 years and above, living in community dwellings aimed to assess the computer skills and called for intervention as two-thirds of all countries register rates above 30% of the population with no computer skills. The results showed that computer skills are the lowest amongst older adults in Europe and urge for more in-depth understanding of technology use later in life.
Current research topic would like to contribute to the understanding of post-pandemic digital society, by offering an emic perspective of seniors’ digital repertoires and more specific on challenges older adults have in using technology and how these things are associated with their end-use, as for example health decision making issues, loneliness mitigation and algorithms awareness. We aim to explore how technologies such as social media platforms, videogames, are used or not to bridge digital inequities, social connections, and learn new activities, in connection with seniors’ wellbeing and engagement during the pandemic and in consideration for a post-pandemic society.
The purpose of this Research topic is to produce a range of high-quality papers that aims to showcase older people digital realities in nowadays post-pandemic society. The focus is on emergent topics from the interaction between older people’s digital repertoires and their abilities to convert digital use in positive, meaningful experience. We welcome both review and position papers and empirical research associated to the health, wellbeing, technostress and attitudes towards technology, algorithms and tracking applications, issues regarding privacy and surveillance and how such things shape the new digital realities of older adults.
We encourage authors to send a short abstract (500 words max), with a tentative title in advance and full contact details, and social media accounts (e.g., Twitter) to the guest editors. Paper submissions are welcome and are not limited from the fields of gerontology, aging studies, psychology of ageing, gerontechnology, Human Computer Interaction, media and communications, and interdisciplinary studies.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the integration of technology into the lives and physical environments of people globally, while it has highlighted the disparities and digital inequities within our society. Technology use reinforces classical inequalities between rich and poor, majority and minorities, old and young. This in turn for some people has resulted in mixed experiences since 2020, they have been able to work from home, be more productive, while for many more, the sense of loneliness, and social isolation has increased greatly. Post-pandemic digital realities re-shape the discussion on the overcome ability and the belief in a successful adoption of the digital technologies later in life, also about the obstacles and challenges associated with the sustained use of technology, as for example the technostress and issues regarding privacy and surveillance. For older adults in particular the new digital spectrum raises issues regarding attitudes and technology awareness, self-trust and the mitigation between online and offline activities.
Understanding people’s digital repertoires in a pandemic scenario is focused on the vulnerable social groups – those already described as having higher technostress and difficulties to engage with the latest communication technologies, as for example older adults. Improving digital skills at such groups is presented as an emergent call for action. For example, a recent study on the EU population 55 years and above, living in community dwellings aimed to assess the computer skills and called for intervention as two-thirds of all countries register rates above 30% of the population with no computer skills. The results showed that computer skills are the lowest amongst older adults in Europe and urge for more in-depth understanding of technology use later in life.
Current research topic would like to contribute to the understanding of post-pandemic digital society, by offering an emic perspective of seniors’ digital repertoires and more specific on challenges older adults have in using technology and how these things are associated with their end-use, as for example health decision making issues, loneliness mitigation and algorithms awareness. We aim to explore how technologies such as social media platforms, videogames, are used or not to bridge digital inequities, social connections, and learn new activities, in connection with seniors’ wellbeing and engagement during the pandemic and in consideration for a post-pandemic society.
The purpose of this Research topic is to produce a range of high-quality papers that aims to showcase older people digital realities in nowadays post-pandemic society. The focus is on emergent topics from the interaction between older people’s digital repertoires and their abilities to convert digital use in positive, meaningful experience. We welcome both review and position papers and empirical research associated to the health, wellbeing, technostress and attitudes towards technology, algorithms and tracking applications, issues regarding privacy and surveillance and how such things shape the new digital realities of older adults.
We encourage authors to send a short abstract (500 words max), with a tentative title in advance and full contact details, and social media accounts (e.g., Twitter) to the guest editors. Paper submissions are welcome and are not limited from the fields of gerontology, aging studies, psychology of ageing, gerontechnology, Human Computer Interaction, media and communications, and interdisciplinary studies.
