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The use of the internet by older adults in Poland

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Abstract

It is generally accepted that it is young people who are particularly interested in information and communication technologies (ICT). Older adults remain to be considered less prepared, not only technically, but also mentally, to use the Internet. However, the development of ICT may contribute to extending life activities by facilitating everyday activities such as shopping or improving the health status of older adult generations. This is even more important in light of the latest demographic trends that indicate a rapid increase in population ageing, especially in developed countries. The aim of this study is to examine the use of the Internet by older adults in Poland, taking into account the diversity of these people in terms of belonging to a given generation of seniors and in terms of their sex. The methods include questionnaire surveys and statistical data processing. The results show that older adults are becoming more and more digital. In relation to the respondents surveyed, the hypothesis that the interest of older adults in using the Internet decreases with age was not confirmed. Furthermore, the results demonstrated that future research should focus on the comparison of the use of the Internet by older adults from different countries, and therefore, from different cultural areas or areas implementing different social policies.

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Acknowledgements

This paper was supported by the research project Excellence 2020, run at the Faculty of Informatics and Management, University of Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Engineering and Economics, Wroclaw University of Economics, ul. Komandorska 118/120, 53-345, Wrocław, Poland

    Szymon Dziuba, Anna Cierniak-Emerych & Grzegorz Michalski

  2. Faculty of Informatics and Management, University of Hradec Kralove, Rokitanskeho 62, 500 03, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic

    Petra Poulová, Hana Mohelská & Blanka Klímová

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  1. Szymon Dziuba
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  2. Anna Cierniak-Emerych
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  3. Grzegorz Michalski
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  4. Petra Poulová
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  5. Hana Mohelská
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  6. Blanka Klímová
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Correspondence to Blanka Klímová.

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According to the Polish law, acquiring data from anonymous questionnaires is not considered an experiment with humans, and therefore, Ethical Approval is not required. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study and the data were anonymized.

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Dziuba, S., Cierniak-Emerych, A., Michalski, G. et al. The use of the internet by older adults in Poland. Univ Access Inf Soc 20, 171–178 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-019-00700-y

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