TY - GEN
T1 - Retirees on facebook
T2 - Can online social networking enhance their health and wellness?
AU - Shyam Sundar, S.
AU - Behr, Richard A.
AU - Oeldorf-Hirsch, Anne
AU - Nussbaum, Jon F.
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - An individual's social network has a strong impact on his or her mental and physical health. This is of particular consequence for senior citizens who are at greater risk of social isolation after retirement, due to loss of spouse, mobility issues, and recent emphasis on aging in place, i.e., in smart homes. Can online social networking sites (SNSs) such as Facebook help alleviate social isolation of aging alone by enabling seniors to maintain high-quality social interactions? How can we make senior-friendly design improvements to SNSs? A preliminary national survey (N=168) of adults over 55 revealed that for those who had joined an SNS, the primary motivation cited for signing up was persuasion by a friend or family member, while nonusers cited a strong lack of interest rather than a lack of knowledge or skill, with implications for theory and design of SNS technology for senior citizens.
AB - An individual's social network has a strong impact on his or her mental and physical health. This is of particular consequence for senior citizens who are at greater risk of social isolation after retirement, due to loss of spouse, mobility issues, and recent emphasis on aging in place, i.e., in smart homes. Can online social networking sites (SNSs) such as Facebook help alleviate social isolation of aging alone by enabling seniors to maintain high-quality social interactions? How can we make senior-friendly design improvements to SNSs? A preliminary national survey (N=168) of adults over 55 revealed that for those who had joined an SNS, the primary motivation cited for signing up was persuasion by a friend or family member, while nonusers cited a strong lack of interest rather than a lack of knowledge or skill, with implications for theory and design of SNS technology for senior citizens.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79957952531&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=79957952531&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1145/1979742.1979931
DO - 10.1145/1979742.1979931
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:79957952531
SN - 9781450302289
T3 - Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings
SP - 2287
EP - 2292
BT - CHI EA 2011 - 29th Annual CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Conference Proceedings and Extended Abstracts
PB - Association for Computing Machinery
ER -