Abstract
This paper discusses how the older generation in Brunei Darussalam is adapting to technological changes and how they have shifted from traditional media to using smartphones to access news today. The participants consist of village heads age between 50-75 years old. The method used to collect data is a focus group interview. The participants are divided into three separate categories during the focus group interview. Results showed that the younger group among the three which is the 50-59 and the 60-69 tend to access news from the smartphones. The participants have adapted to the use of technology by using social media apps such as WhatsApp and Facebook as a way of accessing news. Some of the participants also maintained using traditional media such as television, newspapers and radio from time to time because it has become a habit to access traditional media since they were at their young age. The oldest group of participants, age 70-75 solely maintain using traditional media because they have difficulties adapting to technology due to age factor, health reasons as well as lack of adaptability to new technology. Keywords: older generation, technological changes, smartphones, news, traditional media
Highlights
This study gives an overall insight into how news is being accessed in Brunei Darussalam, by the older generation
For us holding the post of ketua kampongs using smartphones and accessing news through our smartphones becomes an essential part of the job
Sharing news helps to spread the news and inform others what is happening in a particular place at a particular time. This results of this study show that the use of social media to access news has encouraged the older generation to disseminate and access news through the use of the smartphone
Summary
This study gives an overall insight into how news is being accessed in Brunei Darussalam, by the older generation. This study is interesting because nowadays the majority of people around the world is accessing news digitally and the researcher believes that this is an important issue to look into especially in Brunei because more people are having the luxury of owning smartphones. The main religion of the county is Islam This particular study has tackled the interest of the researcher because there are no known studies in Brunei Darussalam who looks into the use of smartphones among the elderly. News Express another English newspaper was developed in late 1999 but eventually closed down by early 2001, due to lack of sustainability in the Brunei newspaper market Another newspaper agency Brunei Times was opened in 2006 but later shut down by the end of 2016, leaving Brunei Darussalam with only currently one English newspaper, which is the Borneo Bulletin. The recent closure of Brunei Times in 2011 and the closure of another popular English newspaper News Express back in 2001 has left Borneo Bulletin to be the only standing English newspaper in the country
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