Older people in a world of new media and technologies

Abstract

The aim of the article was an analysis of the situation and social-cultural conditionings of older people constituting, among others, the generation X in a world of new media and technologies, on a background of the youngest media generation, that is, the generation Alpha. The present generation of seniors consists of the war and inter-war generation, the Baby Boomers and generation X. After a concise characterization of generations, I presented the problem of media competences determining the phenomenon of digital divide. In turn, I discussed its three dimensions: the psychological (motivating access), the technological (material and physical access) and the sociological (competence access: strategic, informative operative skill and usable access) together with examples (wearable technologies, Internet of Things, humanoid robots) constituting the area of digital divide. The accepted thesis, in accordance with William Ogburn's concept, that the real world (social-cultural) of the elderly does not keep pace with the world created by the new media and technologies, was affirmed. The main cause, apart from a lack of even one of the four types of access, is the difference of speed in the real and virtual world. I applied the historical, analytical-descriptive and comparative methods.