Abstract:

Digital technologies continue to revolutionize, expanding beyond limits and regions where only a tiny percentage of the digital population can keep up. While this evolutionary expansion persists, it also widens the digital gaps, inequities, and disparities socioeconomically, socio-generationally, culturally, and socio-technologically, namely from an aged perspective, whereas older adults in the United States and other countries have limited use due to lack of affordability, accessibility, training, and digital literacy, and having developed negative attitudes or perceptions toward technology, resulting in their unwillingness to participate in digital societies. This study adopts an epochal, socioeconomic, and socio-generational perception of digital disparities and divides. This exploratory investigation draws from previous works of literature and provides insight into how older adults are systematically affected by the digital divide, socially, generationally or epochally, financially, cognitively, physically, and relationally. This study intermingles Chen’s multidimensional senior technology acceptance model with van Dijk’s digital divide phenomenon. The senior technology acceptance model comprises social influence, facilitating conditions, anxiety, and self-satisfaction, which leads to negative or positive perceptions of usefulness, ease of use, attitudes toward use, and behavioral intentional use.

According to van Dijk, four types of access to technology make up the digital divide's complexities and phenomenon: 1) psychological, material, skills, and usage. Results demonstrate that older adults face a significant digital divide compared to younger generations and even younger and older adults who are socioeconomically secure. Older adults choose not to use technology at similar rates as their younger counterparts because they are the likeliest to face age-related challenges such as physical and cognitive degradations and olfactory diminutions. Furthermore, they are most likely to be retired, have limited income, and have smaller social circles or social influencers. This study concludes by illuminating the value of technology and how it can substantiate successful aging and promote overall happiness and well-being while sharing older adults’ perceptions coherently regarding their attitudes toward usefulness and ease of use of technology that would ultimately lead to continued and intentional use. Key evidence suggests that the central underlying mechanisms of older adults’ perceptions and attitudes are due to socioeconomic and socio-generational paradigms. Findings provide scholars with vital material to expand and continually explore the importance, benefits, and implications of how and why older adults continue to fall at the lower end of the digital technology use spectrum, even though they were the generation initially introduced to technology before their younger counterparts.

Keywords:

Older adults, digital divide, socioeconomic, socio-generational, generational digital gap.