Use-by-proxy in later life : a qualitative study with Internet users and nonusers

Laznik, Jerneja (author), Reisdorf, Bianca Christin (author), Petrovčič, Andraž (author), Hvalič Touzery, Simona (author)

Increasing digitalization presents challenges for many people, especially older adults, who often have limited internet skills and engage in fewer online activities or are simply nonusers. Many therefore rely on use-by-proxy – indirect internet use through others. Drawing on the Model of Internet Engagement and on Resources and Appropriation Theory, this qualitative study examines factors that shape use-by-proxy among older internet users and nonusers. We identified six groups of factors that affect engagement in use-by-proxy: personal categories, positional categories, social resources, perceptions and motivations, internet proficiency, and social and cultural environment. Societal and personal expectations related to internet use create feelings of pressure and exclusion, which are compounded by media portrayals and stereotypes that reinforce perceptions of older adults lacking digital skills. Older adults did not constitute a homogeneous group disinterested in the internet but instead exhibited varying levels of awareness and engagement and need support tailored to their specific circumstances.

• Language: English
• Keywords: indirect internet use, use-by-proxy, digital inequalities, older adults, qualitative study
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Publication status: In print
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: 19 str.
• Numbering: Vol. , no.
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-175585
• UDC: 303
• ISSN on article: 1044-7318
• DOI: 10.1080/10447318.2025.2577782
• COBISS.SI-ID: 255911171
• Publication date in RUL: 05.11.2025

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: International journal of human-computer interaction
• Shortened title: Int. j. hum.-comput. interact.
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• ISSN: 1044-7318
• COBISS.SI-ID: 683029

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
• Description: The most restrictive Creative Commons license. This only allows people to download and share the work for no commercial gain and for no other purposes.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: uporabniki interneta, starostniki