Does the wind of change blow in late adulthood? Adoption of ICT by senior citizens during the past decade

Abstract Using data from large scale Annual Social Surveys of the CBS in Israel, the current research focused on trends of internet adoption and digital uses among the senior population in the past decade (2003–2012). The research goal was to identify the socio-demographic characteristics predicting internet access and digital uses and to examine whether the effects of these factors changed over time. During the decade the rate of internet access and digital uses increased continuously among the senior population, however the gap between them and the younger (20–64) age group was not eliminated; in fact it increased but only slightly. Our findings make it possible to identify disadvantaged groups in which being a senior intersects with additional risk factors: Arabs, immigrants, religious people, respondents from low socio-economic background and people with health problems. These findings are important for policy makers who attempt to promote internet use among Israeli older adults. Focusing on disadvantaged groups and implementing our specific recommendations may have beneficial effects.

[1]  Galit Nimrod,et al.  The benefits of and constraints to participation in seniors’ online communities , 2014 .

[2]  A. Kaplan,et al.  Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media , 2010 .

[3]  Eszter Hargittai,et al.  Informed Web Surfing: The Social Context of User Sophistication , 2003 .

[4]  Brian D. Carpenter,et al.  Computer use among older adults in a naturally occurring retirement community , 2007, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[5]  L. Carstensen,et al.  Taking time seriously. A theory of socioemotional selectivity. , 1999, The American psychologist.

[6]  S. Losh.  Generation, Education, Gender, and Ethnicity in American Digital Divides , 2010 .

[7]  Tally Katz‐Gerro,et al.  How do class, status, ethnicity, and religiosity shape cultural omnivorousness in Israel? , 2009 .

[8]  Paolo Guerrieri,et al.  The Economic Impact of Digital Technologies: Measuring Inclusion and Diffusion in Europe , 2011 .

[9]  Alan Durndell,et al.  Gender, Internet Identification, and Internet Anxiety: Correlates of Internet Use , 2005, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[10]  Charles Ess,et al.  Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Religion and Computer-Mediated Communication , 2007, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[11]  Paul DiMaggio,et al.  Make Money Surfing the Web? The Impact of Internet Use on the Earnings of U.S. Workers , 2008 .

[12]  Neil Charness,et al.  The New Media and Older Adults , 2004 .

[13]  Robert W. Fairlie,et al.  Explaining differences in access to home computers and the Internet: A comparison of Latino groups to other ethnic and racial groups , 2007, Electron. Commer. Res..

[14]  Joseph Sharit,et al.  Factors predicting the use of technology: findings from the Center for Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement (CREATE). , 2006, Psychology and aging.

[15]  Danah Boyd,et al.  Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship , 2007, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[16]  C. Anthony Di Benedetto,et al.  Diffusion of Innovation , 2015 .

[17]  Detmar W. Straub,et al.  Diffusing the Internet in the Arab world: the role of social norms and technological culturation , 2003, IEEE Trans. Engineering Management.

[18]  E. Hargittai,et al.  Digital Inequality , 2008, Commun. Res..

[19]  W. Dutton,et al.  Next Generation Users: The Internet in Britain , 2011 .

[20]  Alexander van Deursen,et al.  Internet skills and the digital divide , 2011, New Media Soc..

[21]  N. Charness,et al.  Factors Predicting the Use of Technology: Findings From the Center for Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement (CREATE) , 2006 .

[22]  Noemi Bitterman,et al.  The Silver Surfer: Making the Internet Usable for Seniors , 2004 .

[23]  Maryalice Jordan-Marsh,et al.  Internet use intention and adoption among Chinese older adults: From the expanded technology acceptance model perspective , 2010, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[24]  M. Salwen,et al.  Communication Technology Adoption and Ethnicity , 2005 .

[25]  Azi Lev-On,et al.  Gaps close, gaps open: a repeated cross-sectional study of the scope and determinants of the ethnic digital divide , 2014 .

[26]  Heidi Campbell,et al.  Considering spiritual dimensions within computer-mediated communication studies , 2005, New Media Soc..

[27]  Paul DiMaggio,et al.  How Network Externalities Can Exacerbate Intergroup Inequality1 , 2011, American Journal of Sociology.

[28]  J. Cooper,et al.  The digital divide: the special case of gender , 2006, J. Comput. Assist. Learn..

[29]  S. Rivas,et al.  Cognitive ability and Internet use among older adults , 2006 .

[30]  Lars Fuglsang,et al.  IT and Senior Citizens: Using the Internet for Empowering Active Citizenship , 2005 .

[31]  B. Compaine.  The Digital Divide : Facing a Crisis or Creating a Myth? , 2001 .

[32]  N. Lewin-Epstein,et al.  The declining racial earnings’ gap in United States: Multi-level analysis of males’ earnings, 1960–2000 , 2009 .

[33]  Caroline J. Tolbert,et al.  Unraveling Different Barriers to Internet Use , 2012 .

[34]  Lincoln Dahlberg.  The Internet, deliberative democracy, and power: Radicalizing the public sphere , 2007 .

[35]  E. O. C. Dsw.  Empowerment of the Low Income Elderly Through Group Work , 1989 .

[36]  Wendy Olphert,et al.  Older People and Digital Disengagement: A Fourth Digital Divide? , 2013, Gerontology.

[37]  John P. Robinson,et al.  NEW SOCIAL SURVEY PERSPECTIVES ON THE DIGITAL DIVIDE , 2003 .

[38]  Philip Calvert,et al.  Virtual Inequality: Beyond the Digital Divide , 2004 .

[39]  C. Fuchs.  The Role of Income Inequality in a Multivariate Cross-National Analysis of the Digital Divide , 2009 .

[40]  R. Klotz.  The politics of Internet communication , 2003 .

[41]  Gustavo S. Mesch,et al.  ETHNIC DIFFERENCES IN INTERNET ACCESS , 2011 .

[42]  Kathryn Zickuhr,et al.  Who’s Not Online and Why , 2013 .

[43]  Benjamin B. Dunford,et al.  Is burnout static or dynamic? A career transition perspective of employee burnout trajectories. , 2012, The Journal of applied psychology.

[44]  L. Lagana'.  Enhancing the Attitudes and Self-Efficacy of Older Adults Toward Computers and the Internet: Results of a Pilot Study , 2008, Educational gerontology.

[45]  E. Hargittai,et al.  Digital Distinction: Status-Specific Types of Internet Usage , 2009 .

[46]  Sara Hassani.  Locating digital divides at home, work, and everywhere else , 2006 .

[47]  D. Schwartz.  Users of the world unite , 2000 .

[48]  Bob Lee,et al.  Age differences in constraints encountered by seniors in their use of computers and the internet , 2011, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[49]  D. Abrams,et al.  A Review and Meta-Analysis of Age-Based Stereotype Threat: Negative Stereotypes, Not Facts, Do the Damage , 2015, Psychology and aging.

[50]  Shelia R. Cotten,et al.  Internet use and depression among older adults , 2012, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[51]  S. Taipale.  The use of e-government services and the Internet: The role of socio-demographic, economic and geographical predictors , 2013 .

[52]  Diane Zimmerman Umble.  The Amish and the telephone: Resistance and reconstruction , 1994 .

[53]  Charles T. Taylor,et al.  Predictors of response to an attention modification program in generalized social phobia. , 2011, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[54]  Jong-Kil Kim,et al.  Digital Divide: Conceptual Discussions and Prospect , 2001, Human.Society@Internet.

[55]  Heidi Campbell,et al.  Making Space for Religion in Internet Studies , 2005, Inf. Soc..

[56]  Martin F. Lynch,et al.  Predictors of older adults' technology use and its relationship to depressive symptoms and well-being. , 2014, The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences.

[57]  Paul DiMaggio,et al.  From the 'Digital Divide' to 'Digital Inequality': Studying Internet Use as Penetration Increases , 2001 .

[58]  Jianbin Jin,et al.  Measuring Digital Divide: The Exploration in Macao , 2008 .

[59]  E. Hargittai.  Digital Na(t)ives? Variation in Internet Skills and Uses among Members of the “Net Generation”* , 2010 .

[60]  Karen O'Hara,et al.  "Curb Cuts" on the Information Highway: Older Adults and the Internet , 2004 .

[61]  Paul DiMaggio,et al.  Digital Inequality: From Unequal Access to Differentiated Use , 2004 .

[62]  A. LaCroix,et al.  Patterns of technology use among older adults with and without disabilities. , 2015, The Gerontologist.

[63]  A. Barak,et al.  Promoting older adults’ well-being through Internet training and use , 2007, Aging & mental health.

[64]  H. Litwin,et al.  Elder participation in cyberspace: A qualitative analysis of Israeli retirees , 2004 .

[65]  Joseph D. Straubhaar,et al.  Closing the rural broadband gap: Promoting adoption of the Internet in rural America , 2007 .

[66]  Chien Chou,et al.  Incidences and correlates of Internet anxiety among high school teachers in Taiwan , 2003, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[67]  Aaron C. T. Smith.  Older adults and technology use , 2014 .

[68]  H. Swift.  Citation for published version Lamont , Ruth A . and Swift , Hannah J . and Abrams , Dominic ( 2015 ) A Review and Meta-Analysis of Age-Based Stereotype Threat : Negative Stereotypes , 2022 .

[69]  Nelly Elias,et al.  ‘Without it I am nothing’: The internet in the lives of older immigrants , 2012, New Media Soc..

[70]  Aaron Smith,et al.  72% of online adults are social networking site users , 2013 .

[71]  Leon G. Schiffman,et al.  Cybersenior Mobility: Why Some Older Consumers May Be Adopting the Internet , 2000 .

[72]  S. Lissitsa.  Patterns of digital uses among Israeli Arabs – between citizenship in modern society and traditional cultural roots , 2015 .

[73]  L. Remennick.  Transnational lifestyles among Russian Israelis: a follow-up study , 2013 .

[74]  E. Clipp,et al.  A randomized controlled trial of the psychosocial impact of providing internet training and access to older adults , 2002, Aging & mental health.

[75]  Sarah Hyde,et al.  No country for older people? Age and the digital divide , 2009, J. Inf. Commun. Ethics Soc..

[76]  Alexander van Deursen,et al.  Internet Skills, Sources of Support, and Benefiting From Internet Use , 2014, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Interact..

[77]  Jeffrey T. Prince,et al.  The Diffusion of the Internet and the Geography of the Digital Divide in the United States , 2006 .

[78]  Mario A. Hernández,et al.  An evaluation of performance by older persons on a simulated telecommuting task. , 2004, The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences.