New Older Users’ Attitudes Toward Social Networking Sites and Loneliness: The Case of the Oldest-Old Residents in a Small Italian City.

-An analysis

The goal of this study was to investigate the elderly and their utilisation of social networking sites (SNS) such as Facebook and WhatsApp. Older adults in small cities can experience loneliness and even more so recently with less face-to-face contact as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Through providing training to a sample, aged 79-84 on SNS, the authors gathered qualitative information about personal experiences.

The results obtained were positive and indicated that using SNS helped in reducing loneliness for the elderly and that they were mainly used for contact with relatives and friends.

The barriers for non-use were around technical issues, in addition to privacy issues. Interestingly this is also why users preferred WhatsApp over Facebook.

I agree with the authors wish to identify issues and provide interventions for the elderly in reducing loneliness. Many elderly people do not have the skills or knowledge required to utilise SNS. In addition to being less physically able to get out and about. Add in the social isolation orders that have been put in place during the pandemic and it is a very important area of study to hopefully allow decision makers to provide services in this area.

Reference

Casanova, G., Abbondanza, S., Rolandi, E., Vaccaro, R., Pettinato, L., Colombo, M., & Guaita, A. (2021). New Older Users’ Attitudes Towards Social Networking Sites and Lonliness: The Case of the Oldest-Ol Residents in a Small Italian City. Social Media + Society, 7(4). https://doi.org/10.1177%2F20563051211052905