Given that older adults constitute a highly heterogeneous group that engages with digital media in varying ways, there is likely to be large variation in technology support needs, something heretofore unaddressed in the literature. Drawing on in-depth qualitative interviews with a multinational sample of older adults, the authors explore the support needs of older adults for using digital media, including their perceptions of whether the support they receive meets their needs. Participants obtained assistance from both informal (e.g., adult children) and formal (e.g., computer classes) sources. However, the support given can lack immediacy, leaving older adults dependent on others’ availability to provide it. Educational approaches that emphasize individualized support and wide availability might allow an improved experience for a population that is increasingly online with an interest in a wide range of activities.

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Studying visitors’ experiences with cultural sites has been complicated by the availability of internet-connected mobile devices. Simply observing visitors on site is no longer sufficient since they can interact with a site offline and online: before, during, and after their visit. Furthermore, cultural sites are as much sites of cultural heritage as they are sites of tourism. To study such complex experiences, new approaches to the study of human interactions with cultural sites must be developed; these methods must account for the fact that the offline and online realms can no longer be considered separate. In this article, I introduce the method of the Instagram interview as applied in an Instagram ethnography, contextualized by my project on visitor experiences of a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, DC, where I interviewed visitors after their visit. The Instagram interview helps study a dispersed population that engages, through Instagram posts, with one physical location and its narratives, allowing conclusions about visitor experiences of the site and the role of Instagram in this context. When constructing the Instagram interview in a manner that corresponds to platform conventions, it produces personal, in-depth narratives about the interviewee’s experiences. Conceptualizing the experience of a memorial as expanding beyond the space and time of the site visit, the Instagram interview is suitable for holistically studying visitors’ complex experiences: before, during, and after their visits, as it recognizes that offline and online interactions with the site are part of the same experience.

Older adults comprise a highly heterogeneous group that engages with digital media in varying ways, therefore a large variation in technology support needs is likely. This study examines the nature of support for using digital media among older adults. We conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with older adults (age 59+) in Hungary, the Netherlands, and Switzerland (N=58) in 2019 exploring: (1) whether and how older adults receive support in using digital media; and (2) older adults’ perceptions of whether the support they receive meets their needs. We began with open coding, then conducted consensus meetings to identify themes and coding schemes, and wrote memos to share findings and ensure reliability across coders. We find that older adults voice a highly varying range of need for technical support as well as varying instances of both receiving and not receiving technical help. Participants report receiving help from different informal (e.g. spouses) and formal (e.g. computer classes) sources. However, support may not be immediate, posing challenges for older adults who depend on the availability of their support sources. Importantly, we also find that there are older adults who are quite self-sufficient in the ways they use digital technology. For older adults needing support, greater access to community-based support may help those without satisfactory options in their own social circle. Given our findings that older adults can have great ease with solving technology-related problems, peer-driven support networks where older adults can offer support to others may be an effective approach to providing digital technology guidance.