Exploring Privilege in the Digital Divide: Implications for Theory, Policy, and Practice

The Gerontologist
Mei Lan FangAndrew Sixsmith

Abstract

The digital revolution has resulted in innovative solutions and technologies that can support the well-being, independence, and health of seniors. Yet, the notion of the "digital divide" presents significant inequities in terms of who accesses and benefits from the digital landscape. To better understand the social and structural inequities of the digital divide, a realist synthesis was conducted to inform theoretical understandings of information and communication technologies (ICTs); to understand the practicalities of access and use inequities; to uncover practices that facilitate digital literacy and participation; and to recommend policies to mitigate the digital divide. A systematic search yielded 55 articles published between 2006 and 2016. Synthesis of existing knowledge, combined with user-experience elicited through a deliberative dialogue session with community stakeholders (n = 35), made visible a pattern of privilege that determined individual agency in ICT access and use. Though age is consistently centralized as the key determinant of the digital divide, our analyses, which encompassed both van Dijk's resources and appropriation theory and intersectionality, appraised this notion and revealed that age is not the ...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jun 6, 2020·Journal of Medical Internet Research·Arianna PoliAndreas Motel-Klingebiel
Jan 11, 2019·The Gerontologist·Rachel Pruchno
Jun 2, 2020·Journal of Medical Internet Research·Martina A ClarkeJohn R Windle
Feb 25, 2021·BMC Women's Health·April Mackey, Pammla Petrucka
Mar 7, 2021·International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health·Xinghua LiuYue Tao
Aug 28, 2021·International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health·Raymond F PalmerClaudia S Miller

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