THE INTERNET IS A BOY’S CLUB?: ANALYZING GENDER DIFFERENCES IN COMPUTER & INTERNET ADOPTION BY OLDER ADULTS

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Issue Date
2019-11-08Author
Wilson, Derek A.
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Type
Article
Article Version
Scholarly/refereed, author accepted manuscript
Rights
© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America.
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Show full item recordAbstract
The realization of technology’s exponential advancement has been noted in recent years. With ever advancing technologies becoming more integrated in our everyday lives, we must adapt and learn to utilize these new technologies in order to maintain a presence in society. One group that has been stereotyped as struggling to adopt and learn the processes involved with advancing technologies is that of the older adult population. However, previous literature tends to suggest that there are also gendered differences in the adoption of different forms of modern and advancing technologies among older adults. While some articles state that older adult women have been reported to use social media than their male counterparts, conflicting previous literature states that older adult women use newer technologies less, but are more creative in their uses. With these conflicting reports, there comes a need for proper analyses on the gendered use of modern technology among older adults. Using data from the 2015 Current Population Survey (CPS) Computer and Internet Use Supplement, different demographic factors are analyzed for influences on use of technologies. The older adult age cohorts analyzed include the Baby Boomer and the Silent Generation age cohorts. This analysis includes of controlling for additional factors such as regional residence, educational attainment, and other social location variables. Contrary to much of the existing literature, there is little difference in the adoption of computer and internet technologies by older adults. Additionally, the analyses are performed on the Generation X and Millennial age cohorts for comparison.
Description
This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Innovation in Aging following peer review. The version of record Wilson D. A. (2019). THE INTERNET IS A BOY’S CLUB?: ANALYZING GENDER DIFFERENCES IN COMPUTER & INTERNET ADOPTION BY OLDER ADULTS. Innovation in Aging, 3(Suppl 1), S862. https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igz038.3167 is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igz038.3167.This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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Citation
Wilson D. A. (2019). THE INTERNET IS A BOY’S CLUB?: ANALYZING GENDER DIFFERENCES IN COMPUTER & INTERNET ADOPTION BY OLDER ADULTS. Innovation in Aging, 3(Suppl 1), S862. https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igz038.3167
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