TY - JOUR
T1 - Mobile Application Use and Loneliness among Older Adults in the Digital Age
T2 - Insights from a Survey in Hong Kong during the COVID-19 Pandemic
AU - Yang, Chun
AU - Lai, Daniel W.L.
AU - Sun, Yi
AU - Ma, Chun Yin
AU - Chau, Anson Kai Chun
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: The research in this paper was funded by the Hong Kong Baptist University Research Development Fund (RNHA202105 and RC-PWSF-21-22-SOSC-001), Hong Kong Research Grant Council General Research Fund (12600120) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (42071149).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2022/7/1
Y1 - 2022/7/1
N2 - Existing literature on the associations between use of mobile applications (i.e., mobile apps) and loneliness among older adults (OAs) has been mainly conducted before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since mobile apps have been increasingly used by OAs during the pandemic, subsequent effects on social and emotional loneliness need updated investigation. This paper examines the relationship between mobile app use and loneliness among Hong Kong’s OAs during the pandemic. In our research, 364 OAs with current use experience of mobile apps were interviewed through a questionnaire survey conducted during July and August 2021, which assessed the use frequency and duration of 14 mobile app types and levels of emotional and social loneliness. The survey illustrated communication (e.g., WhatsApp) and information apps were the most commonly used. Emotional loneliness was associated with the use of video entertainment (frequency and duration), instant communication (duration), and information apps (duration). Association between video entertainment apps’ use and emotional loneliness was stronger among older and less educated OAs. Our findings highlight the distinctive relationships between different types of apps and loneliness among Hong Kong’s OAs during the pandemic, which warrant further exploration via research into post-pandemic patterns and comparative studies in other regions.
AB - Existing literature on the associations between use of mobile applications (i.e., mobile apps) and loneliness among older adults (OAs) has been mainly conducted before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since mobile apps have been increasingly used by OAs during the pandemic, subsequent effects on social and emotional loneliness need updated investigation. This paper examines the relationship between mobile app use and loneliness among Hong Kong’s OAs during the pandemic. In our research, 364 OAs with current use experience of mobile apps were interviewed through a questionnaire survey conducted during July and August 2021, which assessed the use frequency and duration of 14 mobile app types and levels of emotional and social loneliness. The survey illustrated communication (e.g., WhatsApp) and information apps were the most commonly used. Emotional loneliness was associated with the use of video entertainment (frequency and duration), instant communication (duration), and information apps (duration). Association between video entertainment apps’ use and emotional loneliness was stronger among older and less educated OAs. Our findings highlight the distinctive relationships between different types of apps and loneliness among Hong Kong’s OAs during the pandemic, which warrant further exploration via research into post-pandemic patterns and comparative studies in other regions.
KW - COVID-19 pandemic
KW - emotional loneliness
KW - Hong Kong
KW - mobile application use
KW - older adults
KW - social loneliness
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85132544609&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/ijerph19137656
DO - 10.3390/ijerph19137656
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 35805316
AN - SCOPUS:85132544609
SN - 1661-7827
VL - 19
JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
IS - 13
M1 - 7656
ER -
