Abstract:

As relatively new Internet users, elderly immigrants adopt information and communications technologies (ICTs) skills while coping with intergenerational problems engendered or exacerbated by processes of aging and/or immigration. This qualitative study drawing by socioemotional selectivity theory (Silverstein & Giarrusso, 2010) is based on in-depth interviews with 26 elderly users who immigrated from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) to Israel about 20 years ago, and 20 of their offspring.

It aims at exploring:
1) How and why did elderly immigrants acquire computer and Internet skills;
2) How did this process affect their intergenerational relationships.

Our findings show that adult children played a significant role in ICT acquisition by providing hardware, basic information and technical support. Nevertheless, acculturation gaps and immigration-related separation problems were expressed in the conflict of expectations concerning ICT skills acquiring. The younger generation hoped to provide parents with opportunities for leisure and communication outside the family, thereby weakening interdependence bonds, while the parents considered computer domestication as a means of creating a new type of joint activity that would strengthen family ties. Appropriation of the computer provided them with a framework for discussion of these contradictions and ultimately promoted greater autonomy among elderly users.

Keywords:

Digital gap, family adult education, elderly persons, intergenerational relationships, ICT skills acquisition, FSU immigrants.