Caring From the Middle: On Digital and Intergenerational Links Among the Middle‐Aged

Karlina Grivina
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Karlina Grivina: Social Sciences Research Centre, Faculty of Social Sciences, Rīga Stradiņš University, Latvia

Social Inclusion, 2026, vol. 14

Abstract: The article offers a novel perspective on digitally linked lives through the health‐related practices of middle‐aged people. Widely accessible devices, such as mobile phones and wearables, generate a wealth of data. They enable users to monitor physical activity and bodily measurements, undertake family‐based challenges, and participate in gamified activities. The article draws on ten semi‐structured interviews conducted in Latvia in 2025. The analysis shows that everyday engagements with these technologies range from common mobile phone applications to specialized smartwatches and measurement devices, depending on the practices users wish to pursue. Crucially, these devices are employed not only for individual physical activities and bodily monitoring but also for sharing data, keeping track of others, and learning about the well‐being of family members. In this way, such technologies reshape the dynamics of close social ties and everyday family interaction. Middle‐aged individuals emerge as a binding link, shaping the health‐related practices of both younger and older kin. At a time when family life unfolds simultaneously across multiple places, and distance frequently separates family members, digital links enable forms of collective agency in which middle‐aged people often play a pivotal role in caring for themselves and others. I conclude that digital technologies function as a medium that strengthens social ties, extends relations of care, and reshapes family dynamics around health‐related practices.

Keywords: agency; digitally linked lives; intergenerational care; middle age; mHealth; wearables (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:socinc:v14:y:2026:a:12148

DOI: 10.17645/si.12148

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