A Study of Older People's Motivations for Using WeChat in Tangshan, China (original) (raw)

Malaysian Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities (MJSSH)

The emergence of social media platforms has overturned traditional modes of interpersonal communication, access to information and personal lifestyles, challenging traditional concepts of interpersonal communication and social communication. It has had a significant impact on the thinking and behaviour of older people, as well as promoting the creation of new modes of social communication and social interaction. Although older people are not the mainstream social media users, with the advent of an ageing society, social media has penetrated the older population, and the rate of social media use among older people has increased significantly especially in China. WeChat, as one of the most commonly used social media, has become the leading choice for people to communicate with each other online. The emergence of WeChat has brought together traditional communication and new Internet technologies. This paper takes WeChat as an object of study and examines the motivation of older people ...

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Being old in an always-on culture: OIder people's perceptions and experiences of online communication

A limited number of free copies of the article are available here: Abstract Research on the digital divide has moved beyond connectivity to skills and usage disparities. Yet for many older people lack of connectivity remains a challenge, and for those who do have access skills and usage remains an issue. We report findings of an in-depth qualitative study of older people's perceptions of online communications and also their actual experiences. Findings indicate that older people who are already socially well connected benefit from online communication more than those who are not.

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Understanding key factors affecting young people's WeChat usage: an empirical study from uses and gratifications perspective

WeChat, a newly fashionable mobile app, has been widely used by young adults in China in recent years. However, it remains unclear why and how young people adopt it. The present study attempts to fill the current knowledge gap by investigating young people's motivations in the light of the well-grounded uses and gratifications framework. Data are collected from online questionnaires based on 170 survey samples of young people in the age of 18 to 30. A principal components factor analysis identified four types of motives for using WeChat: pastime, affection, sociability and fashion. The remarkable finding is that, pastime and affection are predictive constructs for predicting WeChat usage behaviours through applying the regression analysis. Although female users tend to use WeChat more often and spend more time on each session than male users, the latter are more enthusiastic about using WeChat as a mean of interpersonal communication and following fashion. This research is expected to obtain a better understanding of the powerful influence of the fastest-growing social media on the young adult cohort.

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Use of Social Media by Older Adults

Proceedings of the 7th European Conference on Social Media , 2020

The article presents issues regarding the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) by older adults and senior citizens. Over 55 years old people who attend the Jagiellonian University of Third Age, took part in the survey conducted in 2019. The aim of the study was to find out if respondents use social network sites (SNS) and how they participate in specific activities on these websites in order to gratify their needs (questions focused most on the issues connected with privacy management and data security).The study was attended by 89 people (78 correctly completed survey sheets were analysed). The results show that respondents use the internet willingly and that they are also active in SNS. One of the main factors motivating them to do so is curiosity. They prefer Facebook, rarely use Instagram or Twitter. Through SNS, they contact both friends and family. Respondents are cautious about sharing private content and their skills are not sufficient to protect their privacy effectively. The findings of this study contribute to our understanding of older adults' SNS use. The topic is relevant from a social (e.g. digital exclusion) and economic (e.g. older adults as consumers) point of view.

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Social Media and Senior Citizensː Uses and Gratifications Approach

Social media is the collection of diverse online platforms that are mostly used for social purposes. However, the platforms have grown to incorporate the aspects of social and business practices. Senior citizens are people who are termed as 50 years and older. Some of these may already be retired. The use of social media by the senior citizens is a practice that is highly developing in the modern age. This is because social media presents them with a lot of pleasure through communication. The senior citizens use the social media for a plethora of reasons. Chief among the reasons is alleviation of loneliness, the desire to escape vagaries of aging, desire to keep in touch with different generations and even job seeking. However, there are some negative aspects, which may predispose the senior citizens to the risky platform. This is because there is some vulnerability of senior citizens, and especially those that have not experienced social media before. For this reason, there is need for them to identify ways in which can help minimize some threats which come about due to use of social media.

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Aspects of Internet use among older people: Sociological research

International Review

Information and communication technologies have become an integral factor in the daily lives of people over the last decade. Although their usage allows significant advantages, there are still a lot of people in the world who do not use such technologies. In industrialized countries, the reason for this is not in economic factors, but age seems to be a significant determinant of the digital divide. Recently, however, the number of older adults taking advantages of the Internet has been growing. Numerous authors state that a key aspect of successful aging is to remain actively involved in life in old age. In this regard, it is pointed out that online communication and new media present many new opportunities and challenges for the social inclusion of older people. The aim of this paper is to examine the attitudes and opinions of older people towards the use of the Internet and the reasons for its use. The research was conducted using the 2019 survey method on a sample of 240 people o...

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1 My Grandma Uses Facebook: Communication Practices of Older Adults in an Age of Social Media

2015

Many studies have identified the needs of older adults for keeping in touch with their remote family members, including investigations of loneliness and social isolation. Yet few have shown how older adults specifically cope with communication in an age of social media where many people are in constant contact with one another. We also know little about just how much connection older adults wish to maintain with their family and friends. To address this, we have studied the current living and communication practices of older adults using in-depth interviews and a home tour. Our findings show that while there is a desire to maintain contact with family and friends, some older adults also desire to maintain large degrees of solitude. We illustrate how our participants achieved this by presenting specific user archetypes that show technology use, withdrawal, and even avoidance. Together, our results inform the design of technologies and services to improve the current communication pra...

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

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

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 us...

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