Research suggests that older internet users

The gap

Evidence profile

Stated in the abstract and limitations sections of the source papers, classified as general, drawn from work published between 2022 and 2026, spanning 3 journals. Those papers have been cited 32 times in total.

Supporting evidence — 3 representative gaps

• A Typology of Aging Internet Users: Exploring Digital Gradations in Internet Skills and Uses (2022) · Social Science Computer Review · cited 32× · doi

  Research suggests that older internet users are not a homogeneous group of users, as their level of digital inclusion varies widely, depending not only on their age, but also on their socio-demographic background, internet access characteristics, and the availability of social resources associated with “age-graded” life events (e.

  generalstated in abstractevidence 5/5
  Keywords: internet users suggests older homogeneous group level digital inclusion varies widely depending socio demographic background
• Does Heterogeneity in Older Adults’ Digital Media Use Increase as They Age? A Longitudinal Cross-Country Analysis (2026) · Romanian Journal of Communication and Public Relations · doi

  As the present study analysed respondents recruited through online survey panels (except for Romania), the generalisability of the results is limited to older Internet users. They are like- ly to be in better physical condition and on average more skilled and active Internet users. There were few respondents aged 90 and over. A much longer observation period would be needed to show how respondents belonging to the Technology Spread Generation (the youngest generations) use media when they reach the same age as respondents belonging to the Me- chanical Generation (the oldest generation). Another significant limitation of the study re- lates to its measures. While the time spent on digital media included more variation than, for example, simple measures of use vs. non-use, the total time measure used in the analyses was mainly informed by two time measures: time spent watching TV on a computer and time spent reading online. It also included information on only five different digital media activ- ities, leaving out many others that used by older adults (e.g. social networking sites, listen- ing music). In fact, the narrow scope of the media activities studied may not allow for the detection of all heterogeneity in digital media use or its changes over time. Our results suggest that age differences may in some cases be more related to motivations and reasons for using digital media than to actual use. This calls for more in-depth research in the future. In addition, future studies should consider the ethnic and cultural diversity of the older population. Finally, more attention should be paid to the possibility of discovering increasing similarity (convergence) in older adults’ media use as they age. While striving to better recognise the heterogeneity of older people as media users, it should not be forgotten that they may also start to resemble each other more, especially at a very old age, as their phys- ical and cognitive abilities change.

  generalstated in limitationsevidence 5/5
  Keywords: media time older respondents digital users generation measures spent online internet better belonging included used
• Parental Digital Engagement and the Parent–Child Relationship: A Qualitative Study of Children’s Perspectives (2026) · Journal of Child and Family Studies · doi

  1737 Future research could address these limitations by incor- porating multi-informant data, including parental reports and observational methods, as well as longitudinal designs to examine changes over time. In addition, future studies may explore the relationship between parental digital behav- ior and children’s own digital media use in more depth, par- ticularly within the framework of digital socialization.

  generalstated in limitationsevidence 5/5
  Keywords: digital future parental address limitations incor porating multi informant including reports observational well longitudinal designs

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