Abstract
Retirement is a major life transition, which leads to substantial changes across almost all aspects of day-to-day life. Although this transition has previously been seen as the normative marker for entry into older adulthood, its influence on later life has remained relatively unstudied in terms of technology use and cybersecurity behaviours. This is problematic as older adults are at particular risk of becoming victims of cyber-crime. This study aimed to investigate which factors associated with the retirement transition were likely to increase vulnerability to cyber-attack in a sample of 12 United Kingdom based older adults, all of whom had retired within the past 5 years. Semi-structured, one to one interviews were conducted and subsequently analysed using thematic analysis. Six themes were identified referring to areas of loss in: social interaction, finances, day-to-day routine, feelings of competence, sense of purpose, and technology support structures. We discuss the implications of these losses for building cyber-resilience in retirees, with suggestions for future research.
Highlights
Retirement is a major life transition in which most aspects of life change (Salovaara et al, 2010) and has previously been seen as “the psychosocial marker for entry into old age” (Kloep and Hendry, 2006)
While these research areas are undoubtedly important to aiding and understanding the retirement transition, we suggest that a fourth area is important but remains unaddressed – how the retirement transition can lead to increased cybersecurity vulnerability
We aim to explore how interaction with technology changes, in both online and offline environments, as a result of the retirement transition
Summary
Retirement is a major life transition in which most aspects of life change (Salovaara et al, 2010) and has previously been seen as “the psychosocial marker for entry into old age” (Kloep and Hendry, 2006). The retirement transition offers both challenges and opportunities and can be seen as a period of loss, reconstruction, and renegotiation of varying aspects of life (Price, 2003; Salovaara et al, 2010; Mao et al, 2017). The rapid development and growth of technology provides a range of novel challenges and opportunities for those currently transitioning into retirement, and for those who will retire in the future. Technology may provide benefits to retiring adults, offering a solution to difficulties in navigating the transition to retirement. Technology may lead to additional challenges for those transitioning into retirement, such as an increased vulnerability to online victimisation
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