The Digital Divide Is Aging: An Intergenerational Investigation of Social Media Engagement in China

The aging-based digital divide has gained increased research attention in recent years. This research focused on two important aspects of the aging society, the digital divide and the intergenerational differences, with regard to social media usage in China. The data were collected through a househo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of environmental research and public health 2022-10, Vol.19 (19), p.12965
Main Authors: Zhou, Yuqiong, He, Tao, Lin, Feng
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age groups
Aged
Aging
Aging - psychology
Baby boomers
China
Cultural Revolution
Demographics
Demography
Digital broadcasting
Digital Divide
Digital literacy
Digital media
Economic reform
Generational differences
Generations
Humans
Internet access
Mental health
Middle age
Older people
Population
Social Media
Social networks
Socioeconomic Factors
User behavior
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Summary:The aging-based digital divide has gained increased research attention in recent years. This research focused on two important aspects of the aging society, the digital divide and the intergenerational differences, with regard to social media usage in China. The data were collected through a household interview, using a nationally representative sample (n= 3790) from 58 cities in mainland China. The present study investigated the association between differentiated social media usage with demographic characteristics, social economic status, physical and mental health, and social media perceptions. The results show a significant digital divide and generational differences. The existing socio-economic inequalities and demographic variance largely explained older adults' social media access and diversity of social media engagement. Social media perceptions play more essential roles in the intensity of social media engagement for each generation group. This study contributes a better understanding of the manner in which different factors are associated with different generations' social media engagement. A discussion is included regarding the necessity to close the aging-based digital gap in order to cope with the issue of rapid aging.
ISSN:1660-4601
1661-7827
1660-4601
DOI:10.3390/ijerph191912965