Digitalization and the Social Lives of Older Adults: Protocol for a Microlongitudinal Study

Macdonald, Birthe; Hülür, Gizem

doi:10.2196/20306

Cited by 14 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…This study aimed to examine alternation patterns of social interactions and solitude in healthy and community‐dwelling older adults. To do so, we use data from a larger project on digitalization and social lives of older adults (Macdonald & Hülür 2020 ), which included a 21‐day event‐contingent data collection in older adults aged 65 years and above in Switzerland. The study procedures were conducted according to the Declaration of Helsinki and were approved by the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Zurich (Nr.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The five min cut‐off was implemented on the basis of earlier research on meaningful social interactions in daily life to reduce participant burden during the data collection period (Reis & Wheeler, 1991 ). More details on study procedures have been documented in (Macdonald & Hülür 2020 ). The compliance rate was high at 90%, with participants completing an average of 18.96 ( SD = 2.77) out of 21 possible days.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Alternating time spent on social interactions and solitude in healthy older adults

Luo

Pauly

Röcke

et al. 2022

British J of Psychology

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Time spent on being with others (social interactions) and being alone (solitude) in day to day life might reflect older adults' agentic regulatory strategies to balance the needs to belong and to conserve energy. Motivated from a joint lifespan psychological and social relationship theoretical perspective, this study examined how time spent on social interactions and solitude alternatively unfolds within individuals in daily life, relating to individual differences in trait-level well-being and fatigue. Over 21 days, a total of 11,172 valid records of social interactions were collected from 118 older adults (aged 65-94 years) in a smartphone-based event-contingent ambulatory assessment study in Switzerland. On average, a social interaction episode lasted 39 min and a solitude episode lasted 5.03 hr. Multilevel models showed that, at the within-person level, a longer-than-usual social interaction preceded and was followed by a longer-thanusual solitude episode. Moderator analyses showed that older adults with higher trait life satisfaction and lower trait fatigue spent even more time in social interactions after longer solitude episodes, amplifying the solitude-then-interaction association. Our findings suggest that whereas social interaction is a means to improve well-being, solitude is also an integral part in older adults' daily life supporting energy recovery.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alternating time spent on social interactions and solitude in healthy older adults

Luo

Pauly

Röcke

et al. 2022

British J of Psychology

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“…Detailed descriptions of participants, procedures, and measures can be found in earlier publications (Macdonald & Hülür, 2020). Select details relevant to the present study are given below.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Daily social interactions and well-being in older adults: The role of interaction modality

Macdonald

Luo

Hülür

2021

Journal of Social and Personal Relationships

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Associations between social relationships and well-being are widely documented across the lifespan, including in older age. Older adults increasingly use digital communication technologies. In the present study, we examine the role of social interactions for older adults’ daily well-being with a focus on three interaction modalities (face-to-face, telephone, and digital). Specifically, we examine (a) whether people who are more socially active than others report higher levels of well-being and (b) how day-to-day fluctuations in the number of social interactions are associated with day-to-day fluctuations of well-being, separately by interaction modality. We use data from 115 participants (age: M = 72 years, SD = 5, range = 65–94; 40% women), who documented their social interactions over 21 days and reported their well-being each evening (including positive affect, negative affect, and loneliness). Taken together, our findings show that frequency of face-to-face interactions is more consistently related to well-being than telephone or digital interactions. At the between-person level, those who report more face-to-face social interactions than others across 21 days report higher levels of positive affect than others. At the within-person level, on days where participants report more face-to-face social interactions than their own average, they report higher positive affect, lower negative affect, and lower loneliness than usual. In addition, a higher number of digital interactions is associated with lower negative affect at the between-person level. In summary, our findings suggest that face-to-face social interactions are uniquely relevant to older adults’ daily well-being. We discuss implications of these findings for future research.

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“…Compared with older adults living with others, those who lived alone during the COVID-19 pandemic reported less in-person contact but, contrary to expectations, did not report more time on the phone or on electronic communication channels (Fingerman et al, 2021). Moreover, it is essential to note that almost 30% of older adults do not have internet access (Armitage & Nellums, 2020;Fingerman et al, 2020;Macdonald & Hülür, 2020) and depend on social contact in person or on the phone.…”

Section: Maintaining Relationships During the Covid-19 Pandemicmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…Electronic technologies and apps have been useful to older people, helping them remain in contact with relatives, while limiting their need to leave their homes and risk exposure to COVID-19. Before the pandemic, approximately 48% of social interactions by older adults were digital to some degree (occurring via phone, email, social media, or video calls) (Macdonald & Hülür, 2020). The use of digital communication technologies is therefore not entirely foreign to older people, and researchers suggest that these technologies have beneficial effects on the everyday functioning of older adults.…”

Section: Maintaining Relationships During the Covid-19 Pandemicmentioning

confidence: 99%

Digital or In-Person: The Relationship Between Mode of Interpersonal Communication During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Mental Health in Older Adults From 27 Countries

Skałacka

Pajestka

2021

J Fam Nurs

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Social distancing has limited the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), but also changed communication patterns. However, studies of how mental health in older adults relates to the usage of different modes of interpersonal communication are sparse. The aim of this study was to analyze how COVID-19-related changes in the frequencies of using different modes of communication (digital or in-person) have influenced mental health in older adults from 27 countries. Our study was based on part of Wave 8 of the SHARE data set, which focused on the living situation of older adults during the pandemic. Findings suggest that in-person communication benefited mental health in people aged ≥60 years more than digital communication. The older the person, the less beneficial digital communication was for their mental health, especially during interactions with their children. Our findings are useful for researchers and practitioners interested in technologically meditated interventions.

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Digitalization and the Social Lives of Older Adults: Protocol for a Microlongitudinal Study

Cited by 14 publications

References 57 publications

Alternating time spent on social interactions and solitude in healthy older adults

Alternating time spent on social interactions and solitude in healthy older adults

Daily social interactions and well-being in older adults: The role of interaction modality

Digital or In-Person: The Relationship Between Mode of Interpersonal Communication During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Mental Health in Older Adults From 27 Countries

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