Making sense of older adults’ everyday life smartphone use for social connectedness

Loos, Eugène, Fernández-Ardèvo, Mireia, Peine, Alexander, Rosales, Andrea, Beneito-Montagut, Roser ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5967-4307 and Blanchet, Daniel 2025. Making sense of older adults’ everyday life smartphone use for social connectedness. Journal of Global Ageing Item availability restricted.

	PDF - Accepted Post-Print Version Restricted to Repository staff only Download (3MB)
	PDF (Provisional file) - Accepted Post-Print Version Download (17kB)

Abstract

One of the main uses of smartphones is to be socially connected, and in this sense, older people are not different. Today, there is a growing number of older adults who lack meaningful social connections. Though the smartphone increasingly permeates older adults’ everyday lives, little is known about how smartphone usage shapes a sense of social connectedness in their everyday life. To fill this gap, we analyzed the relationship between smartphone use and perceived social connectedness in Canada, the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden, focussing on the following research question: What is the role of the smartphone in social connectedness in later life? Data collection followed a multi-method approach consisting of smartphone use tracking and an online survey with participants 55 to 79 years old. We used the notion of Social Connectedness, comprising three dimensions: Community Connections, Social Engagement and Personal Relationships. We found that the reported smartphone uses are better predictors of social connectedness than equivalent tracked smartphone usage. Using the smartphone for co-caring purposes intensified feelings of overall social connectedness, while sharing multimedia content enhanced the social connectedness dimensions of Community Connections and Social Engagement. We concluded with limitations and implications for future research. In sum, the obtained results help overcoming stereotypical and ageist assumptions on the older adult’s digital practices by providing nuanced and rich evidence on the meanings of smartphone-based communication in a sample of individuals aged 55 to 79 years old.

Item Type:	Article
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Schools > Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Publisher:	Bristol University Press
Funders:	Joint Programming Initiative More Years, Better Lives (643850)
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	26 February 2025
Date of Acceptance:	20 February 2025
Last Modified:	28 Feb 2025 08:15
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/176496

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item