Abstract

PERAL PERAL, Begoña; ARENAS GAITAN, Jorge  and  RAMON JERONIMO, Mª Ángeles. The Role of Socio-Demographic Variables in the Use of Internet-Based Applications by Older People. Innovar [online]. 2013, vol.23, n.48, pp.55-66. ISSN 0121-5051.

The world's population is progressively aging. It is forecast that in 2050 the number of people over the age of 60 will reach two billion. The use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) could have a significant impact on the quality of life of the older population, helping to make them more active while decreasing their marginalization and social isolation. Although there are significant differences in use of the Internet and its applications by older adults compared to the rest of the population, it must be borne in mind that this segment is not a homogenous group. This work seeks to verify whether there are differences in the frequency of use of diverse Internet-based applications by older adults based on their age, gender, level of education and past employment activity. The results show that there are indeed significant differences in the use of certain applications due to the socio-demographic variables analyzed.

Keywords : Adults; ICTs; gender; level of education; employment activity.

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