TECHNOLOGY USE AMONG OLDER CHINESE ADULTS: BENEFITS ON SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING

Abstract

Abstract The growth of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in recent years has led policy-makers and researchers to look into how these developments affect older adults’ daily lives. The educational attainment of older people in Hong Kong is relatively low, with more than 60% of them only completing primary education or having no formal education. Therefore, their utility of ICT remains low as compared with that of their Western counterparts. One of the objectives of this study is to understand the usage of various forms of ICT among older Chinese adults, including technology use in social, financial, medical, and leisure domains. This study also investigates whether social technology use (such as social media, instant messages, video call) could contribute to better subjective well-being through enhancing their social support. A total of 452 older adults joined this study (M=68.7 years, SD=6.27, Range=60-89; 66.7% female). Among the four domains of ICT, higher usage was observed in the social and leisure domains, particularly among the young old. However, among the participants aged 75 and above, more than 70% of them did not use any form of ICT due to a lack of ICT knowledge. The mediation analyses reveal significant indirect effects of social technology use on life satisfaction (B=0.19, SE= 0.08, p=.010) and positive emotions (B=0.02, SE=0.02, p=.014) through social support, thereby suggesting that social technology use could increase older adults’ perceived support from friends, which subsequently improves their life satisfaction and positive emotions. Practical implications of these findings will be discussed.