Information and communication technologies and the risk to loneliness

Abstract

Digital technologies, such as information and communication technologies (ICT; e.g., the internet), play a significant role in people’s daily lives. With the growing use of ICT, social exchanges are increasingly being conducted digitally. The question of whether the digitization of social interactions has impacted older people’s loneliness has arisen as a concern. There are two perspectives on ICT and its impact on loneliness. First, ICT can protect older people from loneliness by allowing them to communicate with their loved ones over longer distances. Second, increasing pressure to use the latest technologies can lead to a risk of exclusion and loneliness. This chapter includes a literature-based discussion of the associations between ICT use and loneliness. We also present descriptive findings from a Swiss survey of 1604 respondents aged 18–98 years old in which the aim was to explore digital and nondigital forms of contact to identify their preferred forms of social communication. This chapter discusses the impact of increasing digitalization among older people, showing, on the one hand, the opportunity for digital communication tools to maintain social contacts and, on the other hand, the risk of social exclusion because of these digital tools.