Abstract
Digitalization and its impact on societies is a broad field of current research. Much of this research focuses on children and adolescents. Older people, on the other hand, are underrepresented. However, the diffusion and societal appropriation of both digital media and mobile devices are also having a huge impact on seniors. Therefore, this paper asks from a media and communications perspective how media change is perceived by older people and what significance media have had in their everyday lives. To answer these research questions, media biography interviews with 21 seniors were conducted. These are qualitative semi-structured interviews that research media use against the biographical context of the interviewees. As the data reveals, conventional media such as TV, newspapers, and the radio with the prevailing motive of information still dominate the media repertoires of older people. Yet, digital media in the form of smartphones, especially with instant messenger applications, are also used to stay connected to the family. The current media change as a result of digitalization has ambivalent effects on the seniors. On the one hand, they feel overwhelmed by the complexity of applications. On the other hand, they profit from their benefits. The results point to the desideratum to take older people’s media practices seriously and to draw more attention to this less-researched group.
Presenters
Christian OggolderSenior Scientist, Institute for Comparative Media and Communication Studies (CMC), University of Klagenfurt (AAU) / Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), Austria Caroline Elisabeth Roth-Ebner
Associate Professor, Media and Communications, University of Klagenfurt, Austria
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Media Change, Media Biographies, Older People, Generations
