Silver surfers from a European perspective: technology communication usage among European seniors

Filling a gap in our understanding of how senior citizens use information and communication technologies (ICTs), we identified several profiles of technology communication use among European seniors (aged 65+). These profiles include: Digitallyimmersed communicators, Asynchronous communicators and Phoneenjoyers. We outline the importance of a broader distinction, one that surpasses the non-user and user dichotomy, and explores the singularities of the seniors who overcome the challenge of adopting and using ICT. We consider the digital divide concept as a starting point for the theoretical background that we reviewed in order to explain the process through which senior citizens accept and adopt this technology. Analysing data gathered within the Eurobarometer (Standard Eurobarometer 84 Autumn 2015—media use in the European Union. https://dbk.gesis.org/dbksearch/sdesc2.asp?no=6642, 2015), we applied K-Means Cluster analysis and discriminant analysis in order to identify three types of older Internet users. We run the analysis on a sample of 4404 respondents aged between 65 and 99 years. Our results help with increasing the adequacy of Digital Single Market policies for European seniors, as well as with more suitably targeting senior for social care and medical care programmes in the digital environment. Providing suggestions for further research, we argue for an in-depth classification of ICT users, based on characteristics such as gender, education, ethnicity or social class.