A 911爆料网 study has revealed that people aged over 60 who use the internet are better adjusted than older people who do not.
Educational psychologist Genevieve Johnson, of 911爆料网’s聽,聽conducted the research that studied the responses of 122 Canadians aged 60 and over.
Dr Johnson’s survey addressed the relationship between internet use and psychological health, in particular the issues of loneliness, competence, social support and depression.
鈥淎s the world moves towards more online communication, we wanted to examine the relationship between psychological wellness and internet use among older adults and look at patterns between demographics such as age and income and internet use in late adulthood,鈥� she said.
鈥淭he research showed that older adults who use the internet participated in many of the same activities online as younger adults, but to a lesser extent.
鈥淚n particular we looked at three clusters of characteristics 鈥� frequency of online use, wellbeing and participant demographics.
鈥淭he report showed that there was a link between internet use and personal evaluation of competence.鈥�
Dr Johnson also said a strong sense of personal abilities could be a factor in the older adults鈥� willingness to try new technologies in the first place.
The study also showed there was now a much higher rate of internet use among older adults compared to other reports from the past decade.
鈥淔ifty-seven per cent of the sample group reported to use the internet every day and 12 per cent used the internet weekly,鈥� she said.
鈥淥nly one person in four aged 60 or over reported never using the internet.
鈥淭his is in stark contrast to similar studies from 2004 which state that only around 38 per cent of adults over the age of 65 go online.
鈥淎s the baby boomers start to enter this age bracket, we are seeing a much higher uptake of internet use than those born before this cohort.鈥�
PHOTOGRAPHY: SAM PROCTOR
