Ouder worden in een digitaliserende samenleving: inzicht in ervaringen met technologie bij 75-plussers in grootstedelijk Parijs Growing older in a digitalizing society : understanding experiences with technology among people aged 75 and older living in metropolitan Paris

In the last twenty years, in France as in many other societies, digital technology has been integrated into every aspect of the social life. In this phenomenon to which some refer as “digitalization”, the third stage of mediatization (Couldry and Hepp, 2013 ; Hjarvard 2017), digital technologies have become ubiquitous, pervasive, and mundane (Pink and all, 2017) and administrative procedures, commercial transactions, as well as interpersonal communications have become largely mediated by digital devices.

In this context, digital technology plays a role in the way one feels, experiences and interacts with the world and in this sense also influences the way people grow older. Digital technology shapes the society in which older individuals live, it co-structures their daily life and affects the way they relate to other people. Yet, we still know little about how the elderly population deals with these digital technologies and how navigates in this increasing digitalized world. My research focuses on this aging population, who grew up with radio, print media and television but are confronted with digital technology most of the time late in the course of their lives.

My methodology is diverse: 16 months of ethnographic fieldwork + 30 interviews in the city of Paris with people of the age of 75 and above, participant observations in ICT’s courses dedicated to older people and statistics analysis of data that come from a large governmental database. I argue that during their life course, people constitute media repertoires that accompany them as they age. These media repertoires, as there are embedded in the practices and routines of everyday life, are bound to be renewed as this everyday life evolves. Indeed, as social (dematerialization, covid19 pandemic...) and biographical transitions occur, especially with time (death of the spouse, grandparenthood, physical difficulties…) the relation to digital media changes and gains comes to find new meanings.

Moreover, I show that in a societal context where using digital technologies has become a requirement, older people rely on a set of intermediaries to access web services and compensate for a lack of digital knowledge or physical limitations that make digital technologies practices difficult. These intermediaries include family members but also caretakers, cleaners, and a range of objects such as magnifying glasses, stylus pen or enlargements software that altogether support, make possible and enable older people’s digital lives. 

This research is conducted as part of a joint degree program between the Social and Cultural Anthropology department of the Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven) and the Sociology department of the University of Lille. It is supervised by both Professor Katrien Pype and Professor Vincent Caradec.

COLAS, Sophie. “Aging in a Digitalized World: Beyond a User/Non-User Framework”, Digital Ethnography Initiative, University of Vienna, Autriche, 2021 https://digitalethnography.at/aging-in-a-digitalized-world-beyond-a-user-non-user-framework/

COLAS, Sophie. « Experiencing the lockdown in old age”, Contributions from France, Collecting Covid-19, Anthrocovid, Universiy College of London, 2020 https://anthrocovid.com/2-2/contributions-from-france/

MARSTON Hannah., Ivan, L., Fernández-Ardèvol, M., Rosales Climent, A., Gómez-León, M., Blanche, D., Earle, S., Ko, P.C., Colas S., Bilir, B., Öztürk Çalıkoğl, H., Arslan, H., Kanozia, R., Kriebernegg, U., Großschädl, F., Reer, F., Quandt, T., Buttigieg, S.C., Alexandra Silva, P., Gallistl, V., & Rohner, R. COVID-19: Technology, Social Connections, Loneliness & Leisure Activities: An International Study Protocol. Front. Sociol; 5:574811, 2020, doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2020.574811