Connected seniors: how older adults in East York exchange social support online and offline

How do older adults mobilize social support, with and without digital media? To investigate this, we focus on older adults 65+ residing in the Toronto locality of East York, using 42 interviews lasting about 90 minutes done in 2013-2014. We find that digital media help in mobilizing social support a...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:Information, communication & society Jg. 20; H. 7; S. 967 - 983
Hauptverfasser: Quan-Haase, Anabel, Mo, Guang Ying, Wellman, Barry
Format: Journal Article
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: Abingdon Routledge 03.07.2017
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Schlagworte:
Adults
Computer-mediated-communication
Contact
Conversation
Coordination
Digital broadcasting
digital divide
Digital media
Email
Exchange
Exchanging
Internet
Learning
Locality
Mass media
Media
Mobility
Networks
Old people
Older people
Relatives
social media
social networking
Social networks
Social participation
Social support
Strengthening
Technology
Toronto Ontario Canada
Canada
ISSN:1369-118X, 1468-4462
Online-Zugang:Volltext
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:How do older adults mobilize social support, with and without digital media? To investigate this, we focus on older adults 65+ residing in the Toronto locality of East York, using 42 interviews lasting about 90 minutes done in 2013-2014. We find that digital media help in mobilizing social support as well as maintaining and strengthening existing relationships with geographically near and distant contacts. This is especially important for those individuals (and their network members) who have limited mobility. Once older adults start using digital media, they become routinely incorporated into their lives, used in conjunction with the telephone to maintain existing relationships but not to develop new ones. Contradicting fears that digital media are inadequate for meaningful relational contact, we found that these older adults considered social support exchanged via digital media to be real support that cannot be dismissed as token. Older adults especially used and valued digital media for companionship. They also used them for coordination, maintaining ties, and casual conversations. Email was used more with friends than relatives; some Skype was used with close family ties. Our research suggests that policy efforts need to emphasize the strengthening of existing networks rather than the establishment of interventions that are outside of older adults' existing ties. Our findings also show that learning how to master technology is in itself a form of social support that provides opportunities to strengthen the networks of older adults.
Bibliographie:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
content type line 23
ISSN:1369-118X
1468-4462
DOI:10.1080/1369118X.2017.1305428