Friends or Frenemies? The Role of Social Technology in the Lives of Older People

Tina ten Bruggencate, Katrien G. Luijkx and Janienke Sturm
Additional contact information
Tina ten Bruggencate: Department of Tranzo, School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Tilburg University, 5037 AB Tilburg, The Netherlands
Katrien G. Luijkx: Department of Tranzo, School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Tilburg University, 5037 AB Tilburg, The Netherlands
Janienke Sturm: Chair of People and Technology, Institute for HRM and Psychology, Fontys University of Applied Science, 5612 AR Eindhoven, The Netherlands

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 24, 1-15

Abstract: By having a healthy and happy social life, social needs are fulfilled. When social needs are not fulfilled, loneliness and social isolation can occur, which have negative consequences for one’s physical and mental health. Social technology, technology that enables social interaction, can be a resource to fulfil the social needs of older people. In this study, we aimed to learn what role social technology plays in the social life of older people. We held 15 interviews with people aged over 70 who regularly use some form of social technology. Our results indicate that social technology plays different roles in the lives of older people. It strengthens the existing social relationships and social structures. It also brings depth and fun to the social contacts of older people and in this way, enriches their social lives. Social technology also gives a sense of safety and peace of mind to the older people themselves but also to their network members. However, there are barriers in the use of social technology. The older people struggled with using social technology and feel that social technology sometimes stands in the way of real human contact. In supporting and facilitating people’s relationship with others, a community and society, technology helps fulfil older people’s need for connectedness, meaningfulness and independence. However, the relationship with independence is ambiguous. Their life experience gives older people a thoughtful way of looking at social technology and the role it plays in their lives.

Keywords: social technology; social life; social needs; older people; interventions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/24/4969/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/24/4969/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:24:p:4969-:d:295234

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().