Digital Leisure in Later Life: Facebook Use among Romanian Senior Citizens

Abstract

Set against a double background, the sociology of ageing and the digital sociology, and using concepts and theories from the field of leisure studies, the present study approached Romanian elderly (60+) users of Facebook in an exploratory qualitative research, combining content analysis, interviews and participative observation. The main objectives are to explore the elderly online behaviour in terms of preferences, distributed content, as well as motivations, perceived benefits and challenges related to their online life, and also to investigate the connection between their digital selves and their offline identities. The paper also discusses the measure in which social media is understood by Romanian senior citizens as a digital leisure, beyond the instrumental role of connecting the lonely elders with their families and friends. The study reveals the tension between the attraction that Facebook exerts on Romanian seniors and the anxiety it generates. It highlights also that for Romanian elders, Facebook provides a fragile digital leisure, as they see their time spent on the social network as rather shallow and hedonistic. Moreover, seeing Facebook as a territory dominated by younger generations contributes to digital exclusion, sometimes along with a feeling of inadequacy and vulnerability.