Connecting with the elderly online

Based on the socioemotional selectivity theory, where goals related to obtaining emotional meaning from life are most important, the direction of this research was to first establish the

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ABSTRACT

Increasing numbers of older adults above the age of 60 are using new media such as the Internet and smart phones primarily for information seeking and remaining in touch with their family and friends via email Other studies have examined how older adults navigate and attempt to use these devices for biomedical and technological competency purposes – e.g.medical health information seeking and the design of web pages for older adults This study attempted to find out more about the motivations of the Singaporean elderly in their use of the Internet and social media from a socioemotional perspective

Based on the socioemotional selectivity theory, where goals related to obtaining emotional meaning from life are most important, the direction of this research was to first establish the socioemotional goals that were important for older adults and whether Internet use and that of social media has had any impact on helping them achieve those goals (selective optimization with compensation model), resulting in an improved sense of socioemotional and/or physical well-being Hence,

by identifying the roles and social and psychological impact of using the Internet and social media in addressing their needs, this study used the narratives of the elderly participants to understand those needs and their lifeworlds

A qualitative method of obtaining data through focus group and individual interviews was used to understand the circumstances and milieu in which these elderly resided to provide an authentic and more detailed picture of their environment – their lifeworlds The interpretive phenomenological analysis approach surfaced recurring themes from the narratives of the participants in their use of the Internet as they pursued their desire for continual learning and personal interests This suggests

an improved self-definition and feelings of empowerment for themselves Being connected to others online also helped to satisfy the needs for companionship and friendship, thus reducing feelings of isolation and loneliness

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The socioemotional and psychological impact of using the Internet and social media were found to be mostly positive and meaningful for the older Singaporeans This research, in particular, focused on the social and psychological aspects of Internet and social media usage as recounted by the elderly participants, augmenting existing knowledge of the intangible, socioemotional needs of the increasingly greying population of Singapore, and how the Internet and social media could have a part to play in mitigating the mortal consequences of loneliness

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INTRODUCTION

There was a great surge in the number of births following the Second World War as a result of families postponing having children during the difficult times of war Coupled with increased wealth and introduction of mechanised home appliances

to assist with house chores in the early 1960s, families began to have more children, leading to the large number of children born between 1946 and 1964, known as the

‘baby boom generation’ (MCYS, 2006) These baby boomers would now be in their 60s and older The population census conducted in Singapore in 2010 indicated that nine percent of all adults in Singapore were over 65-years of age.Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loongsaid in a speech in 2011 that this percentage will hit 20% by 2030.In the same address, PM Lee said that ‘we are going to have a silver tsunami coming and we need a national effort to plan ahead to be ready for it’ (Lee, 2011)

According to the report, ‘An Uncertain Age: Reimagining long-term care in the 21st Century’ (2013) by KPMG International, commissioned by the Lien Foundation, Singapore ‘has one of the fastest ageing populations in the world’ (KPMG, 2013), having ‘to cope with 870,000 elderly people in 2030, and the median age of Singapore’s resident population rising from 39 years to 49 in 2030 and 55 in 2050’ (KPMG, 2013) Further, a Paper issued by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in 2012 posits that ‘life expectancy is 78 years in developed countries and

68 years in developing regions between 2010-2015’, which is slightly lower than Singapore’s average life expectancy of 83.2 years for females and 78.4 years for males (Dept of Statistics, 2009)

With a rapidly ageing population, government bodies and researchers have conducted surveys on the needs and state of older adults in Singapore For example, the National Survey of Senior Citizens completed in 2005 by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, was undertaken to ‘map the financial, physical and social health of senior citizens in Singapore’ (MCYS, 2005) The main objectives of the survey were to determine the socio-economic profile, living

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arrangements, the family, financial and care support systems of senior citizens in Singapore; their health, physical, mental and functional status; the types of problems they face and how they are coping; their awareness and use of existing services for senior citizens; their employment status and their attitude towards employment and retirement issues; their social health and contributions to family and society (involvement in leisure, grandparenting, volunteering and community activities), and the extent of active ageing in Singapore

The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) conducted a survey of infocomm usage of households and individuals in Singapore in 2009 (IDA, 2010) which found about 83% of all households had at least one computer in their homes and 81% of these had access to the Internet Of the total sample, 14% of the households had adults above 60 years who used the computer and only 13% accessed the Internet Of the 13% who accessed the Internet, 70% went online at least once a day and the top two primary Internet activities were to communicate with others and

to search for information The two most commonly cited reasons for not using the Internet were: a lack of knowledge (51%) and a lack of interest (47%) (IDA, 2010) However, this survey did not include the number of elderly who had smartphones with access to the Internet

There are many benefits for the elderly in using the Internet As life expectancy increases and we are living longer, the Internet is a good tool for communication and to obtain information, especially health information A survey conducted by the Pew Research Center found that more than 70% of the American population has used the Internet to search for health information (Pew Research Center, 2011) Out of a sample size of 2,252 people for the same survey, 14% who used the Internet were more than 65 years old (Pew Research Center, 2011) This might be particularly pertinent to the elderly in Singapore in terms of the number of older persons using the Internet as a means of obtaining information about their health and well-being

Not every elderly who has access to the Internet or a smartphone may know how to make best use of the technology In a study conducted by Lim and Tan (2003), they found that elderly members of wired households with computers, Internet

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connections and mobile phones suffer from social exclusion within their households

as a result of their ignorance of these new technologies (Lim and Tan, 2003) This suggests a divide which stems not from their lack of access to new ICTs but from social exclusion arising from their ignorance of new technologies (Lim and Tan, 2003)

Being connected with their friends and families online might also help the elderly combat loneliness and depression and hence improve their well-being (Shapira, Barak, and Gal, 2007) A recent study by Chan et al (Tan, 2014), reported in The Straits Times on 5 January 2014, showed that loneliness significantly increases the risk of early death among Singapore’s elderly and it did not matter whether they were living alone or with their families The longitudinal study tracked 5,000 Singaporeans aged 60 and above for two years and found that those who said they were lonely in 2009 were more likely to have died by the end of 2011 (Tan, 2014) It was also mentioned in the report that more men than women said they were lonely (Tan, 2014)

What does it mean for older adults who access the Internet to communicate with others and to search for the information they want? Why would they choose the Internet as a means and medium for them to do so? How does accessing the Internet and social media meet their needs for communication and self-improvement? These questions became the two core foci for this study and research to understand the circumstances and motivations behind why older adults in Singapore would choose the Internet and social media as their vehicle for communication and information

By examining the role and impact that the use of the Internet and social media has had on the elderly, this study is important as it situated the lifeworlds of the elderly against their use of the Internet and social media This research, in particular, focused on the social and psychological aspects of Internet and social media usage, and serves to plug the gap in our knowledge of the intangible, socioemotional needs

of the increasingly greying population of Singapore, and how the Internet and social media could have a part to play in keeping more elderly connected and hopefully stave off loneliness

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LITERATURE REVIEW

The literature reviewed for this thesis is presented in three parts: (3.1) research that explored the experiences of older adults in the use of the Internet, in particular task maintenance, and the digital divide between those who are able to use the Internet proficiently and others who faced some difficulty; (3.2) relationship maintenance based on the Socioemotional Selectivity Theory and Selective Optimisation with Compensation model that examined the need to remain connected, and focusing on those relationships that brought greater affective returns by spending more time and effort on them These two theories form the theoretical framework for understanding the motivations and narratives of the elderly participants interviewed for this thesis The last section, (3.3) describes how people obtained a more positive self-definition and sense of empowerment from the use of the Internet and social media, in terms of their quality of life

3.1 Task Maintenance

Cody, Dunn, Hoppin, and Wendt (1999) used the term ‘silver surfers’ to describe a ‘burgeoning group of confident and competent older users of information communication technologies (ICT)’ (Selwyn, Gorard, & Furlong, 2003, pp 3) and their ability to make use of this new technology to bridge the generation gap Some scholars believe that the intergenerational quality of the Internet can improve the situation and quality of life as it pervaded every aspect of life and had the potential for assisting with many of the problems associated with ageing (Bernard & Phillips, 2000)

In the study conducted by Selwyn, Gorard, and Furlong (2003) in the United Kingdom and Wales, researchers found that using ICT is ‘not about having or not having access to technologies, rather it is the scope and intensity of the relationships that people develop with technologies and the nature of what they do with them that is important’ (Selwyn et al., 2003) Data from the study showed that the influences behind older people’s (non)use of ICT are multifaceted and historical, and they moved through different levels of complexity of technology depending on their

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circumstances and context Interestingly, there was a non-enduring influence of the workplace in enrolling people into the information age for the rest of their lives The study found that the forced or coerced use of technology at work was often not translated into later use when they got older and they became resistant to the use of computers The majority of the participants of that study found little or no use for ICT

in their everyday lives (Selwyn et al., 2003) when they were older

Erik Erikson’s (1959) life-span developmental approach described various developmental tasks that all individuals have to accomplish throughout their lives For example, in middle age, a lot of time and energy are placed on career advancement and people have limited time or motivation for taking care of the other things like household chores or furthering their education Hence, domestic help is employed for household chores or to care for young children Baltes and Baltes (1990) expands on this approach with the Selective Optimization with Compensation (SOC) model which acknowledges that ‘at all stages of the life span, there are things that we are good at and things that we are not so good at’ (Baltes and Baltes, 1990) More importantly, it posits that ‘at all ages, we resign ourselves to dependence on certain fronts, in order to gain independence on other fronts’ (Harwood, 2007) What this means is that we will select particular areas of our lives, optimise our performance in those areas and compensate in other areas where we lack ability or motivation The SOC model presents a more optimistic view of old age as a time when we continue to

do what we have done all our lives - focus our energies on the things that are important to us and look for help with the things that we do not have the time or ability to do ourselves This leads to the first research question:

RQ 1: What is the role of the Internet and social media in the task management of older adults?

Using the SOC model, how did the Internet and social media compensate and help in those areas where the older adult would not have the ability to do so? For instance, for those seniors who did not have the opportunity to complete their secondary education, how did access to the Internet afford them the ability to learn about the things they were interested in, in spite of language barriers? Or did it exacerbate the digital divide between those who were literate in the English Language

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and was able to navigate the Internet on their own, and those who were not and required help? How did this translate into feelings of empowerment and independence? How important would this be to them?

Being able to use the computer and the Internet to gather information and perform tasks like communicating with friends and family or make travel and holiday transactions has enabled many older people to gain confidence in the adoption of new technologies and provided possibilities of re-establishing old ties and relationships Another salient use of the Internet for older adults was also the sourcing of biomedical information for health-related issues for ageing adults For example, there are many websites now catering specifically to older adults like www.c3a.org.sg, www.rsvp.org.sg, ageuk.org.uk, or seniorsforliving.com that provides information or weblinks on health and tips for general well-being Entertainment websites offering videos, music, games and other leisure activities are gaining popularity as older adults seek to find avenues to pursue personal interests, relief boredom and pass time

3.2 Digital Divide between older and younger generations

According to a study on the phenomenon of a digital divide between different age groups of users that was conducted by Lim and Tan (2003) of families in Singapore, the study noted that some elderly members of wired households with computers, Internet connections and mobile phones suffer from social exclusion within their households as a result of their ignorance of these new technologies Responses from some of the elderly participants interviewed for this study affirmed the presence of a digital divide between themselves and the younger generation in their families However, this divide is slowly closing as more and more of the elderly learn how to use the Internet and social media through the ownership and use of their smartphones and also by attending ICT courses organized by grassroots associations

The biggest disparity was between the Net-generation, conversant with personal computers and the Internet, and the older generation, more accustomed to an industrialized society (Kim and Kim, 2001) The digital divide could be categorized into three levels:

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(i) Access to information devices and information (media accessibility); (ii) Ability to utilize information resources (information mobilization); and (iii) The eagerness to use information devices and information resources

(information consciousness) (Kim and Kim, 2001)

As Kim and Kim (2001) explained, the ‘Internet was not only entertaining and informative but also expensive and complicated For the latter reasons, class and regional differences manifested themselves clearly in the use of the new medium, resulting in social gaps in information distribution’ Furthermore, ‘the more information flows throughout the entire society, the wider the gap becomes between information haves and information have-nots, leading to a digital divide of differing aspects of an information-based society’ In their view, the core issue of the digital divide has moved from who has better access to information media to who makes the right use of the acquired information (Kim and Kim, 2001) Is this still relevant today when more and more elderly own a smartphone and/or have access to the Internet?

ICTs provide communication links between households and amongst individual household members (Lim and Tan, 2003) and the convergence of family dynamics and technologies has been described by Venkatesh (1996) and Venkatest, Kruse et al., (2003) as the interaction of the ‘social space’ where family behaviour occurs and the ‘technological space’ in which household technologies are embedded and used

While the Internet may not have improved family relationships directly, researchers Lenhart, Rainie and Lewis (2001), found that it has contributed to family activities through the facilitation of planning of activities via email The negative influences of computer technology include the risk of isolation of certain family members as they get addicted to computers and neglect responsibilities and contacts with others in the family (Hughes and Hans, 2001)

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Haddon (2000) observed that ‘amongst single parents and the young elderly in particular, the telephone helps them to stay connected with friends and relations, thereby preventing them from becoming victims of social exclusion’

DiMaggio and Hargittai (2001) wrote that ‘at first, access to the new technology is restricted to an elite and the distinction is between the haves and have-nots However, as penetration increases, the gap in access between the rich and poor, urban and rural dwellers, old and young, the well-educated and unschooled is reduced As access diffuses to parts of the public who were initially excluded, dimensions related to the quality of use become important bases by which the benefits

of the technology are stratified’

While the older generation’s ignorance of new technologies can be attributed

to their lower levels of education and a general lack of exposure, it can also be blamed

on their apathy and the deep-rooted fears they exhibit towards new technologies (Lim and Tan, 2003) Some of these fears originated from negative experiences and the net result of such technophobia is an increased reliance on their children or grandchildren for instruction on the latest technologies (Lim and Tan, 2003)

3.3 Relationship Maintenance

The literature showed that there was a need for older adults to remain connected and in touch with family, friends and the self, and adults began to be more selective in the types of relationships and friendships as they aged The socioemotional selectivity theory posited that over time, goals related to obtaining emotional meaning from life became more important and thus shaped the way in which people selected which relationships to focus on as they aged But what brought

or created emotional meaning for the elderly?

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‘As people age, their personal meaning perspectives evolve to become more inclusive and integrative of their experiences’ (Moore, Metcalf & Schow, 2006) Moore, Metcalf and Schow (2006) conducted a qualitative study to find out how 11 seniors between the ages of 66 and 92 derived meaning in their lives The study found six key themes:

1) Philosophy for living

2) Sense of self

3) Connecting with others

4) Spirituality and faith in God

5) Living through adversity

6) Embracing life

Of these six themes, the sense of self and connecting with others presented possibilities and opportunities for the use of the Internet and social media as conduits

which older Singaporeans could tap on to derive greater meaning in their lives

3.4 Socioemotional Selectivity Theory (SST)

According to the Socioemotional Selectivity theory (Carstensen, 1991), individuals are guided by the same essential set of socioemotional goals throughout life, such as seeking novelty, feeling needed and expanding one’s horizons The socioemotional selectivity theory, or SST, proposed by Carstensen (1991) posited that reduced rates of interaction in the later part of adult life were viewed as the result of lifelong selection processes by which people strategically and adaptively cultivated their social networks to maximize social and emotional gains and to minimize any social and emotional risks (Carstensen, 1991) Strong emotional connections in late life were also found to predict happiness and adjustments in old age (Antonucci & Jackson, 1987) These theories have helped the researcher in understanding why some

of the elderly participants prefer to spend their time and effort in keeping in touch with friends whom they have known for a long time, or with family who are overseas, instead of trying to acquaint themselves with as many new contacts (new social relationships) and friends as possible

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Social interaction requires energy expenditure and risks the experience of negative emotions and threats to one’s concept of self (Carstensen, 1992) There are many functions and purposes to social interaction and gathering information is one of them Seeking information is more important in childhood, adolescence and younger adulthood as the individual learns about the workings of the world (Lansford, Sherman & Antonucci, 1998) However, such information or knowledge diminishes

in importance as the individual became more well-versed about the world around him and of life’s many situations (Lansford, Sherman & Antonucci, 1998) Thus, with age and experience, the information obtained through social interactions is less and less likely to be valuable (Carstensen, 1992) Over the course of many years, emotional intimacy with family and close friends – having shared innumerable joys and sorrows together – may increase (Carstensen, 1992) At the same time, interaction with unfamiliar social partners becomes less likely to yield returns enough to warrant the required energy expenditure Therefore, the potential risks and gains from social interaction change over a person’s life cycle (Carstensen, 1992), suggesting why the elderly may prefer to connect online only with those whom they know rather than find different people to chat with

Fredrickson and Carstensen (1990) conducted two studies to determine how individuals organized social partners in terms of affect anticipated in the interaction and how anticipated social endings influence partner selection In the first study on the categorization of social partners, results showed that the level of anticipated affect was most important to older people, especially for those with infirmities, as they gave more importance to the affect anticipated from the other person in the interaction than

to possibilities for future contact or information seeking These findings were parlayed into the theory of socioemotional selectivity which posited that if the conservation of one’s emotion is a primary goal, then, the anticipation of a positive experience in a potential interaction was a necessary precursor to choosing optimal social partners (Fredrickson & Carstensen, 1990)

The second study tested the hypothesis that when social endings were salient, (for example death, or a single graduate facing the job market) individuals recognized

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that they did not have limitless time in which to develop new social relationships and selected familiarity over novel, new partners (Fredrickson & Carstensen, 1990) Overall, older people chose familiar partners most frequently; yet when social endings were salient, younger people patterned the preferences of the elderly (Fredrickson & Carstensen, 1990) These results reiterate that social partner selectivity functions to conserve emotion resources in the face of limited future opportunities (Fredrickson & Carstensen, 1990)

A longitudinal study over a time span of 34 years from early through to middle adulthood was conducted by Carstensen in 1992 to explore two hypothesis: (1) The frequency of social contacts with acquaintances would be highest in young adulthood and decline gradually, but such reductions would not be evident in relationships with significant others Instead, reductions in interactions would be selective – acquaintance relationships would diminish but significant relationships would be maintained or even increased (2) Emotional intimacy would increase in significant relationships throughout adulthood even when physical interactions were reduced because of the increased emphasis on affective returns and the quality of social contacts that came with age (Carstensen, 1992) Findings from the investigation validated the two hypotheses and further suggested that low rates of interaction in old age were simply a continuation of a narrowing of the range of social partners begun in early adulthood (Carstensen, 1992)

Carstensen (2006) conducted a series of studies examining the impact of time and/or goal constraints on preference for familiar social partners and the findings again suggested that social endings or other forms of goal constraints increased the desire for emotional comfort and time constraints led to an increased emphasis on emotionally meaningful aspects of relationships According to an American Internet tracking firm Experian Hitwise (Rosenbloom, 2011), people who were 55 years and older were visiting American dating sites more than any other age group – an increase

of 39% in the last three years The article quoted an example of a couple who met online and married ten months later The groom was 75 and the bride 65 and this was

in touch with their grandchildren or extended family who live overseas

Harwood (2000) examined the types of communication media used in the intergenerational relationship between grandparents and their grandchildren and found that the frequency of telephone communication seemed to be associated with more satisfying grandparenting relationships among college students (more so than face-to-face or written communications) in America Another study by Holladay and Seipke (2003) also showed that communication via email is relatively frequent in the grandparent-grandchild relationship

There are four main themes in the way grandparents describe their relationships with their grandchildren (Harwood & Lin, 2000) and the first is the sense of affiliation and the expression of love The ability to express their affection and communicate it to their grandchildren and receive the same in return is key to maintaining a quality relationship Grandparents express considerable pride in their grandchildren’s accomplishments and frequently recount and share these accomplishments with their friends and contacts outside the family A third theme that emerges is that of distance, either geographically or because of the generational gap

Social networking sites like Facebook is an example of such complexities Adults (children) post information and photographs of the things happening in their lives and if their parents (older adults) have access to the information as their

‘friends’, they may begin to probe or express interest about the information which may be deemed intrusive by their children This could result in a dilemma about how much information the children would choose to grant access to their parents The children may sometimes not ‘add’ their parents or other elders in the family as

‘friends’ if they want to keep the information on their Facebook accounts private from their parents

Moreover, the proliferation of cell phones within one generation (for instance, the grandchildren) affects the connection between generations, even when the phone

is not owned by the grandparent In a research conducted by Kim and Crow (2012), one participant (a grandmother) loved the camera function in the cell phone even though she had not used it herself This was because she received numerous pictures

of her children and grandchildren taken by the camera of the cell phone and sent to

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her via email Even if one generation rejects the actual device, for example, the handphone, the interoperability of software between platforms means that the practices associated with one technology (camera on the handphone) may be incorporated into the habits one has with another device (viewing via email on the desktop computer) (Kim and Crow, 2012)

Those who wanted a higher degree of involvement in their families, texting had become a skill – a new language – they were required to learn (Kim and Crow, 2012) Many learned to text because of their desire to communicate with their grandchildren not only with this media, but also on their (grandchildren’s) terms

Friendships

Older adults tend to have fewer friendships, choosing to focus on the most rewarding relationships and shedding peripheral acquaintances (Carstensen, 1992) and one very important reason why friendships are particularly important in old age is the fact that they are voluntary and non-obligatory (Antonucci & Akiyama, 1995) Friends are better able in connecting older people with society since a number of activities involve having to ‘get out’ and do something together at a public space

If there is a discernible relationship between the need to connect with others and how this motivated older adults to use social media, this could be a significant boost to the role of social media as a medium for which to enhance the psychological and socioemotional well-being, and quality of life for the elderly Hence, the second research question is:

RQ 2: What role does the Internet and social media play in the relationship maintenance of older adults?

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3.5 Social and Psychological Impact of using the Internet and social media

Besides using the Internet for email and information gathering, the convenience and relative affordability of Internet-based communication tools like chat rooms, Skype and social networking sites have enabled the social needs of older adults to be met easily and directly Shapira et al (2007) found that involvement in various online social and political activism can lead to feelings of self-worth; and obtaining health and medical information that is perceived to be important to adults can promote self-confidence and help reduce anxiety Chen and Persson (2002) noticed that Internet use among older people tended to be associated with a greater sense of well-being Karavidas, Lim and Katsikas (2005) also found a positive relationship between older people’s use and knowledge of computers and the Internet and their general self-efficacy and life satisfaction, suggesting a correlation between the ability to use the Internet and self-empowerment

In fact, Shapira et al (2007) argued in their study that ‘computer and Internet use not only prevented the (psychological) deterioration but enhanced the psychological factors important to the quality of life of older people.’ (Shapira et al., 2007) This was because the reasons for the improvement in the sense of well-being were related to the psychological processes associated with experiences of personal empowerment, enhanced interpersonal communication, learning and overcoming personal and physical difficulties related to mobility It is worth noting the four key factors cited by the subjects in their research:

(i) Learning of an innovative field – using computers and the Internet at an

old age and receiving cheerful feedback from those around them made the subjects feel proud of themselves;

(ii) Social benefits of using online communication – they experienced the

social benefits of enhanced interpersonal communication;

(iii) Experiencing involvement and action – browsing the Internet contributed

to feelings of being ‘in’ and updated, which elevated a personal sense of belonging

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(iv) Positive feelings stimulated by using the Internet – participants reported an

emergence of positive feelings while surfing the Internet, an elevated image and experiences of motivation and enthusiasm

self-The participants in the study felt a general sense of personal empowerment as a process of personal growth, resulting from developing skills and abilities along with a more positive self-definition (Shapira et al., 2007)

Studies conducted by Fredrickson and Carstensen (1990) and Carstensen (2006) suggest that relationships that bring the most affective returns (especially from familiar partners) are not affected even when interactions are reduced Hence, what does this portend in the use of social media by the elderly in terms of connecting with others like family, friends and acquaintances online? Are there differences between physical and virtual interactions for the older adults? How do they derive meaning from these virtual connections and does this have any impact on their socioemotional well-being? Besides these important questions, this research also sought to explore how older adults define a good quality of life and again, whether this has any impact

on their socioemotional well-being Therefore, the final research question is:

RQ 3: What are the social and psychological implications of the Internet and social media for the maintenance of a good quality of life for older adults?

‘One cannot live the afternoon of life according to the program of life’s morning; for what was great in the morning will be of little importance in the evening, and what in the morning was true will at evening have become a lie.’ (Jung,

1953)

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METHODOLOGY

A qualitative mode of inquiry was adopted for this study as a means for the researcher-interviewer to obtain a more holistic understanding of the reasons and motivations behind why older Singaporeans use smartphones and other devices to access the Internet through the participants’ narratives Qualitative research attempts

to capture a holistic, situated perspective of the phenomenon under study and aims to give voice to the participants (Denzin & Lincoln, 2003; Marshall & Rossman, 1999; Merriam, 1998) This helps to understand not just one version of reality, but multiple realities (Lincoln & Guba, 1985) Bryman (2004) argued that one of the defining characteristics of qualitative research was to see through the eyes of the participants

Moreover, unlike quantitative research, which is more suited to gathering data related to pre-determined dimensions and their indicators, qualitative research, with its limited structure and flexibility, is best suited to a deeper appreciation of hitherto less understood phenomena Qualitative research can help to generate richer and more meaningful data and tease out fine nuances of social phenomena that might be important to the participants but may not be readily obvious to researchers who were relatively unfamiliar with the social setting (Bryman, 2004; Mason, 1996) In this study, it was important that the elderly participants be given the opportunity to narrate their life circumstances and realities so that the researcher-interviewer could better recognize their socioemotional needs and what the social and psychological implications were from the use of the Internet and social media, which are the two areas of foci for this study

4.1 Interview Protocol and Procedure

This study was conducted using focus groups and one-to-one interviews of 30 older adults above 60 years - 16 males and 14 females, over a period of nine months The median age of the participants was 67.5 years Participants were mostly members

of senior groups like an information technology (IT) classes for seniors from the Chinese Development Assistance Council (CDAC), Good Life Centre (Marine

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Parade), People’s Association, Association of Muslim Professionals, and contacts from church These were the organisations that responded to the researcher’s request for participation in the research The researcher-interviewer approached RSVP Singapore to participate in the study but the organization did not follow-through on its initial agreement to participate

Interviews conducted with the seniors from CDAC were done in Mandarin and while they navigated the websites using hanyu pinyin (romanised phonetics of Chinese characters), not all of them completed secondary education This proved to

be a challenge for some of the participants who had to learn basic English in order to assign the correct letter of the alphabet to the phonetic sound of each Chinese character when typing in the link for the website

The request to conduct interviews for the purpose of this research was sent via email to the person-in-charge of the IT classes for seniors from CDAC; person-in-charge of Good Life Centre; person-in-charge of the Senior Cyber Guides programme from People’s Association; senior executives from the Association of Muslim Professionals and personal contacts from church and former colleagues After obtaining permission and contact details of potential participants from the persons-in-charge, invitations to participate in the research were sent to every potential participant via email and this was followed-up with telephone calls by the researcher-interviewer to confirm their interest and participation It took some time and effort to persuade the seniors to participate in the research as many of them said they were mere beginners in the use of the Internet and would not be able to provide useful answers

The interviews were conducted at a time and venue most convenient to the participants and Mandarin was used with those participants who were not conversant

in English Interviews with the Malay, Indian and Ceylonese participants were done

in English All interviews were done by the researcher-interviewer and all, save one, were recorded on a voice recorder The audio recordings were then transcribed into

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Microsoft Word documents by a graduate student from the Department of Communications and New Media, National University of Singapore The interview that did not have an audio recording had notations written on the question sheet directly by the researcher-interviewer This was due to an oversight by the researcher-interviewer of not bringing the voice recorder that day The audio recordings were then transcribed into Microsoft Word documents by a graduate from the Department

of Communications and New Media, National University of Singapore

No of participants Median Age Achieved post-secondary education

Table 1: Median age and education level of participants

Fourteen female participants were interviewed by the researcher-interviewer and the median age for the female participants was 65 years old 11 out of the 14 female participants had post-secondary education while all but one of the 16 male participants received post-secondary education Only one male participant stopped school after his Primary Six education but two of the female participants had to discontinue their education after Primary Six due to financial difficulties at home This provided the context for understanding the circumstances the not-as-well educated female participants faced when learning how to use the computer and the Internet

Three of the 14 female interviews were conducted in English and the remaining ten were in Chinese The interviews in Chinese were translated into English by a graduate of the Communications and New Media degree programme, National University of Singapore

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There were three focus groups of mixed genders, each group consisting of not more than three participants, and four single-sex focus groups – two all male and two all female – a total of seven focus groups and 15 participants altogether There were eight indepth, individual interviews with male participants and seven indepth, individual interviews with female participants – a total of 15 participants 30 participants were interviewed in all – 16 males and 14 females

The focus groups that were facilitated by the researcher-interviewer had a set

of questions, but the sessions were guided by the questions rather than dictated by it The participants also introduced some issues that the researcher-interviewer had not thought of as it related directly to their lives In this relationship, the participants were the experiential experts on the subject and were therefore afforded the maximum opportunity to narrate their own stories

Focus group interviews use a method that can help people explore and clarify their views and are more appropriate for open-ended questions (Kitzinger, 1995) like the ones used for this research Although group norms may potentially silence dissenting opinions (Kitzinger, 1995), the researcher-interviewer noted that most of the participants in the focus groups did not rebut each other’s comments but attempted

to wait for each other to finish speaking before they added their own views to the question

Participants were given the time to talk about their anecdotal experiences and perceptions on the impact of the Internet and social media even if the question was on

a different topic Each individual interview took between 45 to 60 minutes and the focus group sessions took about 75 to 90 minutes on average This excluded the time given to the participants to fill in the Participant Information Sheet (PIS) before the interview started

by all the participants

There were instances where the researcher-interviewer had to disqualify a few participants’ inputs as they were not 60 years old at the point of interview but had told the researcher-interview otherwise (over the telephone) when they agreed to participate Nonetheless, tokens of appreciation were given to them for their presence and time

Male participants were numbered B1, B2, B3 etc, and the female participants numbered A1, A2, A3 etc accordingly for confidentiality All data will be kept for a period of five years, from November 2013

4.2 Demographic Profile

60 was used as the minimum age in the selection of potential participants for the study This number was decided upon after considering age markers used by government agencies for defining the age at which Singaporeans are considered

‘elderly’ For instance, NTUC Club has a community called U Live for ‘active agers’ who are 55 years old and above (NTUC Club, 2013); the Retirement Age Act from the Ministry of Manpower states that the official age for retirement in Singapore is 62 years old (MOM, 2013), and a Paper issued by the Ministry of Social and Family Development called ‘State of the Elderly in Singapore – 2008/2009’ states the age of

an elderly as 65 years old (MSF, 2009) Hence, by using a simple average of the three official ages - 55, 62 and 65, the median of 60 years old was adopted as the minimum cut-off age for shortlisting participants for this study The average age of the male participants was 70 years old while that of the female participants was 65

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4.3 Interview/Focus Group Questions

Participants filled in a ‘Participation Information Sheet’ that sought to establish socio-economic status (SES) information such as level of education attained, marital status, number of children, type of housing, profession before retirement, and last drawn salary All the participants for this study were married: there was one divorcee and three widows The information sheet and interview questions are appended with this report Note that the questions for the focus group and individual interviews were identical

The information sheet included questions about their perceived level of proficiency or familiarity in using the smartphones and computer Participants were asked to rate, on a scale of one to seven (with one being least proficient and seven being the most proficient), their perceived proficiency in using their smartphones and the Internet The information allowed the researcher-interviewer to understand better the environment in which each participant used the smartphone and/or the Internet

About 20 participants needed some form of assistance with calculating how much time they spent on the Internet in a week and which applications they used more

of that required the Internet For example, searching for information; sending emails,

or Skype with family and friends

The questions for the interview guide were framed using the theories of Socioemotional Selectivity (SST) and Selective Optimization with Compensation (SOC) The first set of questions looked into socioemotional goals that were important for older adults in terms of relationship management Here, questions examined which goals were related to obtaining the greatest amount of affective returns and emotional intimacy, and how the elderly made use of areas of competency, such as the use of technology and social media, to compensate for areas they lacked The next set of questions touched on whether Internet use has had any impact on helping them achieve those goals and if they resulted in an improved sense

‘lifeworlds’ of the participants through analysis of the data

In phenomenology, reality is comprehended through embodied experience Through close examination of individual experiences, phenomenological analysts seek to capture the meaning and common features, or essences, of an experience or event The truth of the event, as an abstract entity, is subjective and knowable only through embodied perception; we create meaning through the experience of moving through space and across time (Starks & Trinidad, 2007) It involves the use of thick description and close analysis of lived experience to understand how meaning is created through embodied perception (Sokolowski, 2000; Stewart & Mickunas, 1974)

A typical IPA study generates an intensive and detailed analysis of the accounts produced by a comparatively small number of participants (Larkin, Watts & Clifton, 2006) Larkin, Watts and Clifton (2006) noted that these verbatim accounts are generally captured via semi-structured interviews, focus groups, or diaries, and the analysis then proceeds such that patterns of meaning are developed, and then reported

in a thematic form

At the heart of this perspective lies a clearly declared phenomenological emphasis on the experiential claims and concerns of the persons taking part in the study (Larkin et al, 2006), which are based on the philosophical thoughts of

The second aim of the IPA perspective is to develop a more overtly interpretative analysis, which positions the initial ‘description’ in relation to a wider social, cultural, and perhaps even theoretical, context (Larkin et al, 2006) This second-order account aims to provide a critical and conceptual commentary upon the participants personal activities and affords the researcher an opportunity to deal with the data in a more speculative fashion: to think about ‘what it means’ for the participants to have made these claims, and to have expressed these feelings and concerns in this particular situation (Larkin et al, 2006)

Larkin et al (2006) opined that aspects of this interpretative work may also be informed by direct engagement with existing theoretical constructs (something which distinguishes IPA from grounded theory approaches) and the process is sometimes directed towards answering a pre-formed research question

Heidegger’s view of the person was always and indelibly a context’ It is a mistake to believe that we can occasionally choose to take up a relationship with the various somatic and semantic objects that ‘make up’ our world, because such related-ness is a fundamental part of our constitution (Larkin et al, 2006) We are a fundamental part of a meaningful world (and hence we can only be properly understood as a function of our various involvements with that world), and the meaningful world is also a fundamental part of us (Larkin et al, 2006)

‘person-in-27

The researchers Larkin et al (2006) believe that this view of persons has a number of implications for IPA in particular It is the recognition that it is not actually possible to remove ourselves, our thoughts and our meaning systems from the world,

in order to find out how things ‘really are’ in some definitive sense (Larkin et al, 2006) Any discoveries that we make must necessarily be a function of the relationship that pertains between researcher and subject-matter – a dilemma of reflexivity familiar to most qualitative researchers (Larkin et al, 2006) Indeed, the writers Larkin et al (2006) believes that this function is precisely what we would expect, given that we must identify the researcher as an inclusive part of the world they are describing The emergent ‘reality’ (that is, the resultant explanation and/or understanding of the nature of the subject-matter) can thus be seen to be dependent upon the processes of intellectual construction that shaped the ‘structure of encounter’ (Larkin et al, 2006)

In this Heideggerian sense, the central goal of phenomenology is to approach and deal with any object of our attention in just such a way that it is allowed maximal opportunity to show itself ‘as itself’ (Larkin et al, 2006) Nonetheless, the theorists think that it is inevitable that we will fall short of this target - for being a ‘person-in-context’, for we can never fully escape the ‘preconceptions’ that our world brings with it If the empathetic treatment of our subject-matter is central to our approach, and we are prepared to adjust our ideas and assumptions in response to the promptings of that subject-matter, then we are on the way to developing a Heideggerian phenomenology (Larkin et al, 2006)

Larkin et al (2006) suggests that an account can be used to reveal something about a person, but only that person’s current positioning in relation to the world of objects – the bodies and bodies-of-knowledge We can only glimpse a person’s current subjective mode-of-engagement with some specific context or aspect of the world (Larkin et al, 2006) Thus, as analysts, we zoom in upon the person-in-context and that person’s relatedness to the phenomenon at hand We are interested in how they understand and make sense of their experiences in terms of their relatedness to, and their engagement with, those phenomena (Larkin et al, 2006)

Larkin et al (2006) puts forth the argument that hermeneutic approaches view the knower and the known as fundamentally interrelated, and thus assume that any interpretation necessarily involves an essential circularity of understanding – a hermeneutic circle in which the interpreter’s perspective and understanding initially shapes his interpretation of a given phenomenon Yet, as the interpretation interacts with the phenomenon in question, it is open to revision and elaboration, as the perspective and understanding of the interpreter, including his biases and blind spots, are revealed and evaluated (Tappan, 1997)

Thus, IPA’s phenomenological component maps out the participants’ concerns and cares – their orientation toward the world – in the form of the experiences that they claim for themselves (Larkin et al, 2006) The interpretative component contextualizes these claims within their cultural and physical environments, and then attempts to make sense of the mutually constitutive relationship between ‘person’ and

‘world’ from within a psychological framework (Larkin et al, 2006) According to Larkin et al (2006), the overall outcome for the researcher should be a renewed insight into the ‘phenomenon at hand’, informed by the participant’s own relatedness

to, and engagement with that phenomenon

Phenomenologists ask questions about lived experiences, as contrasted with abstract interpretations of experience or opinions about them (van Manen, 1990) Van Manen (1990) wrote that phenomenological analysis is primarily a writing exercise,

as it is through the process of writing and rewriting that the researcher can distill

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meaning Analysts use writing to compose a story that captures the important elements of the lived experience By the end of the story, the reader should feel that she has vicariously experienced the phenomenon under study and should be able to envision herself (or someone else who has been through the experience) coming to similar conclusions about what it means (Starks & Trinidad, 2007) This process, as described by van Manen (1990), was closest to how this researcher-interviewer attempted to experience and be in that lived moment with the participants as they narrated their own personal experiences of learning how to use and why they desired

to learn how to use the Internet

Van Manen’s (1990) interpretive approach to understanding the nature of a social phenomenon involves the researcher in making explicit the meaning of a particular lived experience, and generating a pedagogical thoughtfulness in his or her readers The aim of hermeneutic-phenomenology is to create a dialogical text which resonates with the experiences of readers while, at the same time, evoking a critical reflexivity about their own pedagogical actions (Geelan and Taylor, 2001)

To construct a full interpretive description of some aspect of the lifeworld, and yet to remain aware that lived life is always more complex than any explication of meaning can reveal (van Manen, 1990) Van Manen’s (1990) hermeneutic-phenomenological approach to human science combines, in a dialectical fashion, a phenomenological concern for describing our ways-of-being-in-the-world with a hermeneutic concern for interpreting the social-symbolic world (Geelan and Taylor, 2001) Phenomenology focuses the researcher (ontologically) on immediate experience without being obstructed by pre-conceptions and theoretical notions, and drives the researcher to an understanding of the essential nature of social phenomena (Geelan and Taylor, 2001)

The participants are trying to make sense of their world; the interviewer is trying to make sense of the participants trying to make sense of their world The ordinary word ‘understanding’ usefully captures these two aspects of

researcher-30

interpretation-understanding in the sense of identifying or empathizing with and understanding as trying to make sense of IPA combines an empathic hermeneutics with a questioning hermeneutics Thus, consistent with its phenomenological origins, IPA is concerned with trying to understand what it is like, from the point of view of the participants, to take their side (Smith & Osborn, 2008)

4.4.1 Hermeneutics in IPA

Spielgelberg (1976) has identified hermeneutics as a process and method for bringing out and making manifest what is normally hidden in human experience and human relations In relation to the study of human experience, hermeneutics goes beyond mere description of core concepts and essences to look for meanings embedded in common life practices (Lopez and Willis, 2004) These meanings are not always apparent to the participants but can be gleaned from the narratives produced

by them The focus of a hermeneutic inquiry is on what humans experience rather than what they consciously know (Solomon, 1987)

A central tenet of Heidegger’s (1962) thought was that the relation of the individual to his lifeworld should be the focus of phenomenological inquiry (Lopez and Willis, 2004) Heidegger used the term lifeworld to express the idea that individuals’ realities are invariably influenced by the world in which they live (Lopez and Willis, 2004) Lopez and Willis (2004) suggests that the term, ‘being-in-the-world’, was used by Heidegger to emphasize that humans cannot abstract themselves from the world Therefore, it is not the pure content of human subjectivity that is the focus of a hermeneutic inquiry but, rather, what the individual’s narratives imply what

he or she experiences every day (Lopez and Willis, 2004)

Another philosophical assumption underlying the interpretive phenomenological approach is that presuppositions or expert knowledge on the part of the researcher are valuable guides to inquiry and make the inquiry a meaningful

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undertaking (Lopez and Willis, 2004) Heidegger (1962) emphasized that it is impossible to rid the mind of the background of understandings that has led the researcher to consider a topic worthy of research in the first place (Koch, 1995)

In an IPA study, Lopez and Willis (2004) proposed that theory is not used in a formal way of generating hypotheses to be tested Instead, a theoretical approach can

be used to guide the inquiry in terms of shaping the research process and the questions used in the study (Lopez and Willis, 2004) The use of an orienting framework by the researcher-interviewer, for example the socioemotional selectivity theory and selective optimization with compensation theory, is also a way of making explicit study assumptions and the researcher-interviewer’s frame of reference (Lopez and Willis, 2004) Hence, the study should provide evidence that the framework does not have a biasing effect on the narratives of the participants but used to interpret the findings (Lopez and Willis, 2004)

The aim of an IPA study is to say something in detail about the perceptions and understandings of this particular group rather than prematurely make more general claims Hence, the IPA was a suitable approach for this study as the researcher-interviewer attempted to find out how individuals perceived the particular situations they are facing, how they were making sense of their personal and social world vis-à-vis the pervasiveness of the Internet and social media

In Phenomenology, meaning is central, and the aim is to try to understand the content and complexity of those meanings rather than measure their frequency 16 main themes emerged from the discussions and some quotes were selected as examples to describe the social environments of the various participants

The interpretative phenomenological analysis approach uses systematic data analysis procedures which include highlighting significant statements, meanings, themes, and an exhaustive description that were initially advanced by Colaizzi (1978)

To identify the essential meaning of the participants’ experiences, phenomenological reflection was done many times on participants’ text and theme

statements 76 meaningful statements were identified and 11 main themes were

constructed through these statements

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RESULTS

The interview questions were divided into two key areas: (a) Socioemotional Well-being, and (b) Reasons/Motivations for the adoption of the Internet and/or new media The former was aimed at finding out what socioemotional needs and desires were most important to them at this point in their lives while the latter half of the questions determined if the Internet has been able to meet those needs and if so, to what extent and why We would also refer to some of the studies and research that were conducted overseas to find out if they could be or could not be supported by the data obtained in this study

Data from the narratives that seemed to best respond to the respective research questions were grouped under that question’s area of focus The themes were derived from both the narratives and the interview questions Hence, 11 main themes were selected to summarize participants’ statements that were most significant and relevant

to that research focus To recap, the three research questions are:

RQ 1: What is the role of the Internet and social media in the task management of older adults?

RQ 2: What role do the Internet and social media play in the relationship maintenance

on the calendar and address book features of the smartphones to key in their personal schedules and contact details as they faced the reality of a poorer short-term memory

in their old age

5.1.1 Practical Functionalities

Most of the 16 male participants commented that they experienced a noticeable deterioration of their physical strength and wellness with advancing age, especially their mobility and eyesight Hence, the advent of handphones and smartphones with bigger screens and lit numbers compensated for their weaker eyesight and enabled them to use handphones and applications easily For example,

69 year old B13 noted that ‘now, (the phones have) light, very easy to see Last time the number very small, when you dial you are bound to make a mistake, now got

light That’s the difference.’

Furthermore, the integration of what was previously a desktop-bound capability to now connecting to the Internet with a mobile phone in the palm of one’s hand, was mentioned by a number of the participants as one of the key significant changes in the rapid development of information communication technology for them The speed and ease at which they could access information were two of the most frequently mentioned aspects of new media that made an impact in their lives As recounted by B7 (61 years old), ‘last time, (the) computer is computer, hand phone is hand phone, never link Now link Now touch screen, last time no touch screen Make

my life easier.’

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The older adults noted that the more tangible enhancements in equipment like smartphones – elimination of the need to be tethered to a wire; lit displays; aggregation of functions on a single device, and the ability to connect with others via the Internet almost instantaneously have ‘the potential for assisting with many of the traditional problems associated with ageing’ (Bernard & Phillips, 2000) The role of the Internet and social media, accessible via their smartphones, were becoming more salient for these elderly: ‘It’s all cordless now, you can carry your phone around and talk wherever you want in the house.’(73 years old, A7) Two other participants made similar observations, 66 year old A6 said, ‘with the hand phone it is easier to contact friends or even relatives You can send messages and even emails through the handphone’, and ‘everything is so convenient now’ (64 years old, A5)

5.1.2 Calendar and Address Book Functions

The use of the Internet and/or smartphones were more pronounced when the questions revolved around their mental well-being as some of the participants relied

on their smartphones to remember information that was required for day-to-day task management such as scheduling their activities and essential telephone numbers B13,

69 years old, said, ‘my family members will tell me, you cannot remember this, cannot remember that You know only after your family tell you how you have changed.’ They could refer to the activities on the calendar function and for those who had smartphones, they made use of the map and road directory functions online to locate unfamiliar venues and find out how to get there

Almost all the male participants conceded that their short-term memory recall was not as quick as before: ‘One of the things that has gone down is memory Short-term memory especially, I think it has deteriorated in the last 20-30 years’ (66 years old, B6) Another comment from 61 year old B7, said, ‘(my) memory not as good as before That’s why I depend very heavily on my iPhone, everything, every appointment, anything, any program, event I will record immediately into the diary Very useful.’ This observation supports literature that found ICT equipment like

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Internet-enabled smartphones having ‘the potential for assisting with many of the traditional problems associated with ageing’ (Bernard & Phillips, 2000) and related directly to Research Question 1 of how the use of the Internet and social media has helped the elderly manage their tasks more effectively

Furthermore, the adoption of technology like smartphones by the participants

to compensate for their poorer short-term memory was aligned with the theory of selective optimization with compensation (SOC) which acknowledged that ‘at all stages of the life span, there are things that we are good at and things that we are not

so good at’ (Baltes and Baltes, 1990)

Similarly, four female participants said their short-term memory was not as good as 10-20 years ago and it took them a slightly longer time now to process information mentally A4, 77 years old, was one of two female participants who were very driven to master the use of the Internet in order to pursue her interests She completed a three-year course in counseling from SIM University in 2012 and added,

‘I am surprised I am still interested in learning I am surprised because when I meet friends my age, they don’t want to study but I must tell you, when I was 40 I was told

to do a degree.’ A4 completed a degree in law and was called to the Bench when she was in her 60s and had to adapt to the new information technology to research for the information and materials she needed, online This desire to continue learning was a strong impetus for A4 to use the Internet in order to complete her assignments and tasks

Another female participant, A6, 61 years old, did not complete her primary school education when she was young due to financial difficulties After her children had grown up, she was determined to make up for the missed education opportunity

by taking up English classes so as to maximize her use of the Internet and fulfill her desire to learn However, she noted that ‘my mental responses are slower - it is like your brain is not connected and cannot process My memory is not the same, because

when I study English, I have to care about present tense and past tense, it is difficult.’

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The awareness of the weakening of their physical bodies and short-term recall motivated the female participants to focus their energies on the things that were important to them (for example, continual education) and looked for help (via Internet resources) with the things they did not have the time nor ability to do themselves Such adaptations were in line with the selective optimisation with compensation model of how older adults optimised their performance in certain areas and thus enhanced their ability at managing those tasks by using the Internet and/or social media

5.1.3 Consumption of news online

The main sources of news and information for the male participants were the newspapers (hard copy), television and radio One participant said that he liked the web interface for the Yahoo! news site and obtained news from international news agencies that were online, such as the British Broadcasting Corporation and Washington Post This was not far removed from the observation of a study conducted by Gamberini et al (2006) which noted that older persons preferred television and radio as their main source of news 73 year old A7 commented, ‘when I need to know anything, I will immediately go into it (the Internet).’ A male participant, 78 year old B1, made an observation about his friends who could not access news websites easily as they were not familiar with the English language, he said, ‘my friends are Chinese-educated and the computer is all in English and they don’t know how to change into Chinese, so I did it for them to read news.’

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4) Finding out from friends 1

computers or other handheld ICT devices

2

Table 2: Main sources of news and information for female participants

When it came to the male participants who were Chinese educated, some of them did not encounter problems accessing the Internet as they could type in the romanized spelling of the Chinese characters, or hanyu pinyin, when searching for information or websites However, it was a challenge for some of the female participants, like A6, who were not familiar with hanyu pinyin and had to learn the letters of the alphabet before they were able to identify the correct phonetics corresponding to the intended Chinese character

5.1.4 Online Health Tips

Seven of the 14 female participants expressed their concerns and worries about their health with all of them making the effort to read up and/or find out more information online about how they could maintain good health or of certain health conditions, for instance, high cholesterol or dementia etc This is half of the female participants interviewed who would use the Internet and social media to help manage their health and well-ness status For instance, 77 year old A4 said, ‘I used to do some exercise from the Internet (YouTube)’, or 64 year old A5, ‘I would go onto the Internet to check things out like my eyes and high cholesterol and roughly know what

I should eat and not eat to ensure your own health.’

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Besides going online to search for health information for themselves, 73 year old A7 would also relay relevant information to others around her, ‘you have to keep yourself updated It is important so that I can maintain my own health and I can also tell people who want more information as what can be done to help them live better lives.’

When the conversation turned to their thoughts about health, most of them echoed the prevailing public sentiments of the need to be in good health as one aged However, none of the female participants intimated reasons why they felt the need to want to be in good health, that is, to view being in good health as a means to an end, rather than as an end in itself There was also no direct mention of the increasing cost

of healthcare as a reason to keep themselves in good health There was only one female participant who appeared to take a more balanced view towards managing her health by keeping tabs on her diet and remaining aware of her own physiological changes and needs

The use of the Internet, however, like watching aerobics exercises on YouTube, was an important example of how a need of wanting to exercise led to the elderly selecting to use new media rather than a more traditional method of registering for exercise programmes at a community or fitness club This could portend important possibilities in reaching out to those elderly who want to remain fit and healthy but were unable to sign up for fitness programmes for various reasons, which is a way of compensating for the inability with the use of ICT

5.1.5 Performing online transactions, sending emails or information gathering online

Two male participants said they spent more time at home on the computer to send emails, follow movements of stock prices and one of them was ‘researching how

to get an app to locate hand phones.’ (66 years old, B6) When asked why they did not