Older People’s Online Information Search During the Pandemic

TY - GEN

T1 - Older People’s Online Information Search During the Pandemic

AU - Banerjee, Snehasish

AU - Kapetanaki, Ariadne

AU - Dempsey, Lauren

N1 - © IEEE. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details

PY - 2022/3/10

Y1 - 2022/3/10

N2 - As the world continues to grapple with the pandemic, how competently people search and process COVID-19-related information online has serious ramifications. In this vein, a demographic segment that is particularly research-worthy includes older people, who are usually slower in technology adoption and use compared with younger people. For these reasons, the objective of this paper is to explore how people aged 65+ search and process online information related to COVID-19. Fifteen semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted in the UK. The older people were found to maintain varied and broad information portfolios. Many found the internet to be an efficient avenue to seek and share information. The participants generally dismissed social media but deemed authoritative information sources (e.g., the WHO website) to be reliable. They were cautious about scams and misinformation online, and were likely to adopt an ‘if in doubt, avoid’ approach to unfamiliar sites. The study shows that older people in their effort to avoid misinformation may limit their information consumption journeys; nevertheless, this practice keeps them safe. Based on these findings, several implications for theory and practice are discussed.

AB - As the world continues to grapple with the pandemic, how competently people search and process COVID-19-related information online has serious ramifications. In this vein, a demographic segment that is particularly research-worthy includes older people, who are usually slower in technology adoption and use compared with younger people. For these reasons, the objective of this paper is to explore how people aged 65+ search and process online information related to COVID-19. Fifteen semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted in the UK. The older people were found to maintain varied and broad information portfolios. Many found the internet to be an efficient avenue to seek and share information. The participants generally dismissed social media but deemed authoritative information sources (e.g., the WHO website) to be reliable. They were cautious about scams and misinformation online, and were likely to adopt an ‘if in doubt, avoid’ approach to unfamiliar sites. The study shows that older people in their effort to avoid misinformation may limit their information consumption journeys; nevertheless, this practice keeps them safe. Based on these findings, several implications for theory and practice are discussed.

KW - COVID-19

KW - e-health

KW - infodemic

KW - Information behaviour

KW - older people

KW - online health information

KW - social media

UR - https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9721773

U2 - 10.1109/IMCOM53663.2022.9721773

DO - 10.1109/IMCOM53663.2022.9721773

M3 - Conference contribution

SN - 9781665426794

BT - The 16th International Conference on Ubiquitous Information Management and Communication

PB - IEEE

T2 - The 16th International Conference on Ubiquitous Information Management and Communication

Y2 - 3 January 2022 through 5 January 2022

ER -