Why It is Easier to Slay a Dragon Than to Kill a Myth About Older People’s Smartphone Use

Abstract

Our study focuses on myths about older people’s smartphone use. Self-reported data, from Eurostat for example, report access rather than actual usage and are of limited use. What respondents report does not necessarily correspond with their actual smartphone usage behaviour in everyday life. We therefore conducted a tracking study to gain insight into smartphone usage among older adults. Smartphone activity logs were collected from individuals aged 60–79 (N = 303) throughout a period of 28 days between February and May 2019 in Canada, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden. The data thus obtained on actual smartphone use were critically examined in the light of seven myths related to the smart phone usage of older people in everyday life. We also analysed the data in the context of empirical studies in the field of older people’s digital behaviour. Finally, after drawing our conclusions, we present limitations and sketch implications for future research.