Digital ageing: How ageism and technology influence the ageing experience of older adults

dc.contributor.advisorCraffert, Leonora
dc.contributor.authorvan Leeuwen, Maartje Jacoba
dc.date.accessioned2025-03-28T10:38:39Z
dc.date.available2025-03-28T10:38:39Z
dc.date.issued2024
dc.description.abstractThe ubiquitous presence of digital technology means that the ageing experience has become entangled with technology. Older adults’ digital technology engagement is diverse and ranges from proficient and frequent users to non-users. However, there remains a generational difference in the acceptance of digital technology between the young and the old. An under-researched cause of this vulnerability to digital disengagement is discrimination based on age or ageism. There is an urgent need to examine how ageism and digital technology influence the ageing experience of older adults. Therefore, the aim of this PhD was to answer the question: what role do ageism and digital technology play within the ageing experience of older adults? This PhD addressed three key areas. Firstly, the PhD investigated how older adults are portrayed within the media discourse on digital inclusion. This analysis involved studying two decades' worth of Dutch language newspaper articles from The Netherlands and Flanders to comprehend how older adults are portrayed in these publications. The research scrutinized encountered stereotypes and the capacity for self-representation within the digital inclusion discourse. Concluding that older adults are prevalently depicted as incapable of digital inclusion, often a victim of digitalisation efforts, and presented in reductive ageist stereotypes.
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10566/20313
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherUniversity of the Western Cape
dc.subjectDigital Inclusion
dc.subjectMedia representation
dc.subjectICT usage
dc.subjectAge inequality
dc.subjectSocial constructivism
dc.titleDigital ageing: How ageism and technology influence the ageing experience of older adults
dc.typeThesis

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