Senior South Koreans’ Difficulties in Embracing the Internet: Need for Alternative Approaches

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study challenges the mainstream technocratic notion of the digital
divide and its access-based policy solutions, which do not appreciate the different
information-using capabilities, perceptions, and choices of the people concerned.
This notion is examined through the lens of information as structured capital that
requires Internet access to be complemented by people’s information-using capabilities,
inclinations, needs, knowledge, and beliefs, which must also complement each
other to allow the effective use of information. Qualitative in-depth interviews with
30 senior South Koreans at a Senior Welfare Center suggest that the information
capital possessed by these seniors is ill suited to responding to and taking advantage
of Internet use. The social isolation of seniors provides them with neither incentives
nor capabilities to restructure their information capital in the ways necessary for
ongoing use. This finding suggests that digital divide policies for older people must
shift their focus from technology per se toward more comprehensive approaches of
dealing with the basic social needs of senior citizens.