Department of Information Science, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK.
Gerontology. 2013;59(6):564-70. doi: 10.1159/000353630. Epub 2013 Aug 20.
Digital technologies are becoming more pervasive in all areas of society. Enabling everyone to have access and capability to use the Internet and associated digital technologies, summed up in the term 'digital inclusion', is seen to have wide-ranging benefits to the individual, to the economy and to society. For older people, being digitally included can help them to maintain their independence, social connectedness and sense of worth in the face of declining health or limited capabilities, as well as also offering new opportunities to improve their quality of life. At present however, access to the technology and to the benefits is not equally distributed either between or within nations, and older people tend to be on the 'wrong' side of what is termed the 'digital divide'. Governments globally are developing strategies to promote digital inclusion and indeed Internet uptake is increasing steadily, including amongst older people. However, such strategies have focussed on getting people online, and there appears to be an assumption that once someone is online they will remain 'digitally engaged'. In fact statistics show that some users give up using the Internet, and there is emerging evidence that older people are more vulnerable to the factors which can lead to this outcome. The authors see this phenomenon as a potential but largely unrecognised 'fourth digital divide' which has serious implications for social inclusion. The objectives of this article are (a) to raise awareness of the phenomenon of digital disengagement by considering some of the emerging evidence, (b) to explore some of the potential implications of not recognising and therefore not addressing the needs of the digitally disengaged older population, and (c) to reveal the prevailing gap in knowledge which future research should address.
数字技术在社会的各个领域变得越来越普遍。让每个人都能够访问和使用互联网及相关数字技术，这一术语概括为“数字包容”，被认为对个人、经济和社会都有广泛的好处。对于老年人来说，数字化包容可以帮助他们在健康状况下降或能力有限的情况下保持独立性、社交联系和自我价值感，同时也为他们提供了改善生活质量的新机会。然而，目前技术和利益的获取在国家之间或国家内部都没有平等分配，老年人往往处于所谓的“数字鸿沟”的不利一侧。全球各国政府都在制定促进数字包容的战略，事实上，互联网的使用率也在稳步上升，包括老年人在内。然而，这些战略主要侧重于让人们上网，而且似乎存在一种假设，即一旦有人上网，他们就会一直保持“数字化参与”。事实上，统计数据显示，一些用户放弃了使用互联网，而且有证据表明，老年人更容易受到导致这种结果的因素的影响。作者将这种现象视为一种潜在的、但在很大程度上尚未被认识到的“第四数字鸿沟”，这对社会包容具有严重影响。本文的目标是(a) 通过考虑一些新出现的证据，提高对数字脱离现象的认识，(b) 探讨不认识和因此不满足数字脱离的老年人口的需求的潜在影响，以及(c) 揭示未来研究应该解决的知识普遍差距。
