It Does Matter for Us, Too: Implications of Digital Divide among Older Americans

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2021In the U.S., older adults have long overrepresented a digitally marginalized group who did not fully benefit from the digital lifestyle. Despite the rapid adoption of digital technology, the digital divide among older adults is still critical. About four out of ten older Americans, aged 65 or older do not have Internet access in 2021. Nevertheless, relatively little public attention has been paid to the digital divide among older adults and its impacts since they were not the primary consumers in economic growth driven by digital technologies. This dissertation project aimed to expand knowledge in the determinants of older adults' engagement in digital lifestyle and the impacts of the digital divide on their wellbeing through a series of three cohesive research papers, analyzing data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). The first part of the dissertation explored the digital divide among older Americans, seeking a better understanding of the role of stereotypes on older adults assimilated from surrounding cultures. Drawing on resources and appropriation theory and stereotype embodiment theory, paper one investigated the relationship between older adults' self-perception of aging and regular Internet use. The results from logistic regression show that the higher level of the negative self-perception of aging was positively associated with no regular internet use. The results were in line with another critical argument from the resources and appropriation theory, indicating socioeconomically marginalized groups with limited resources were less likely to use the Internet. Based on the implications from paper one, the study expanded its scope to the impacts of the digital divide on older adults' health and wellbeing. The second paper examined the association between older adults' regular Internet use and the likelihood of new-onset mild cognitive impairment (MCI), employing survival analysis techniques with longitudinal data from the HRS study waves from 2002 to 2016. Following the core arguments from the cognitive enrichment framework, the paper posited regular Internet use as a mentally stimulating activity that might help maintain or stimulate older adults' cognitive function. The study found that older adults who regularly used the Internet during the prior study year showed a lower likelihood of new-onset MCI than non-Internet users. The last part of the current study investigated the relationship between digital technology as a social communication tool and older adults' subjective wellbeing. Specifically, paper three examined the association between older adults' social network services (SNS, i.e., Facebook, Skype, and Twitter) and perceived loneliness mediated by perceived social support and dispositional optimism. The study found that a more frequent SNS use might be associated with a lower level of loneliness, mediated by perceived social support. In addition, older adults with a higher level of dispositional optimism, indicating those who were optimistic toward their life, were more likely to frequently use SNS and perceive a higher level of social support from the SNS use than those who were pessimistic. In brief, the current study found that the digital divide among older Americans was significant, while engagement in digital lifestyle might positively affect the population group's health psychological wellbeing. In addition, this study found that older adults' engagement in digital lifestyle might be affected by various psychological factors, indicating older adults might have a different level of willingness or reluctance to adopt digital technology based on their experiences over life.Based on the findings, the current study provides policy and practice suggestions and future research to close the digital gap among older Americans. First, Digital technology training for older adults should be supported by policy and law. Second, Programs to support Internet connectivity of low-income groups, such as Emergency Broadband Benefits, a temporary program to mitigate economic hardship due to COVID-19, should be extended and further expanded to more population groups. Third, policymakers and practitioners need to understand psychological traits and attitudes toward digital technology shared by the older adult population groups to implement better the policy options mentioned above. Future research needs to investigate further psychological factors associated with older adults' reluctance or willingness to engage in digital lifestyle and causal relationships between digital technology uses and various health or psychological outcomes