Elderly People's Choice of Media and their Perceived State of Loneliness

Erdem Ongun 1 *, Feride Zeynep Guder 2, Askin Demirag 3
More Detail
1 Kadir Has University, Turkey
2 Istanbul Kultur University, Turkey
3 Yeditepe University, Turkey
* Corresponding Author
Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, Volume 6, Issue 1, pp. 35-47. https://doi.org/10.29333/ojcmt/2536
OPEN ACCESS   2466 Views   7556 Downloads   Published online: 15 Jan 2016
Download Full Text (PDF)

ABSTRACT

This study aims at finding the relationship between elderly people’s perceived state of loneliness and their choice of (old and/or new) media instruments. The sample of the study consists of randomly selected 300 elderly people over 60 who reside in rest homes in two different cities, Hatay and İstanbul in Turkey. Participants were given a questionnaire with three sections. The first section included questions related to the participants’ demographic characteristics. Adapted from Russell’s (1996) “Loneliness Scale (Version 3)”, the second part was related to participants’ perceived state of loneliness. Final section was about their choice of media and related details such as aim and time spent on them. Analyzed by statistical methods, study findings show that elderly people from two different social settings and with changing demographic features display differing degrees of loneliness with a significant relationship between the forms of media they used, their related choices, aims and perceived state of loneliness.
Keywords: elderly people, loneliness, rest homes, media, traditional media, new media

CITATION

Ongun, E., Guder, F. Z., & Demirag, A. (2016). Elderly People's Choice of Media and their Perceived State of Loneliness. Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, 6(1), 35-47. https://doi.org/10.29333/ojcmt/2536

REFERENCES

  • Abad, Leopoldo, 2014,. ‘Media Literacy For Older People Facing The Digital Divide: The EInclusion Programmes Design’, Comunicar, Media Education Research Journal n. 42, v. XXI; pp. 173-180.
  • Alaoui, Malek & Lewkowicz, Myriam. (2012). Struggling against Social Isolation of the Elderly – The Design of Smart TV Applications, 10th International Conference on the Design of Cooperative Systems from research to practice: Results and open challenges., Retrieved from http://coop-2012.grenoble-inp.fr/ on 01.03.2015
  • Borge, İsabel. (2008). Media literacy, digital exclusion and older people, AGE (The European Older People’s Platform). Retrieved from http://www.ageplatform.eu/images/stories/EN/pdf_AGE-media-A4-final-2.pdf on 12.05.2015
  • DPT, (Devlet Planlama Teşkilatı) (2007). Türkiye’de Yaşlıların Durumu ve Yaşlanma Ulusal Eylem Planı, Sosyal Sektörler ve Koordinasyon Genel Müdürlüğü, Retrieved from http://www.eyh.gov.tr/ on 12.03.2015
  • Esendemir, Şerif.& Ingman Stanley R. (2011). The Birth of the Rest Home Phenomenon in Ottoman-Turkish, Society. The Case of Darulaceze (Almshouse) in Istanbul.The Journal of Aging in Emerging Economies. Vol. 3 - No. 1,17-23
  • Haddon, Leslie. (2000). Social exclusion and information and communication technologies: Lessons from studies of single parents and the young elderly. New Media & Society, 2, pp. 387-406. (doi: 10.1177/1461444800002004001)
  • Independent Age (2008). Supporting Older People at Home, Older people, technology and community the potential of technology to help older people renew or develop social contacts and to actively engage in their communities Report.pp.4-33 Retrieved from http://www.cisco.com/web/about/ac79/docs/wp/ps/Report.pdf on 11.02.2015
  • Leist, Anja K. (2013) Social media use of older adults. A mini-review. Gerontology, in press Vol. 59, No. 4. 378-384 .(DOI: 10.1159/000346818).
  • Paul, Gerd .& Stegbauer,Christian . (2005). Is the digital divide between young and elderly people increasing? First Monday, Volume 10, Number: 10 – 3. http://dx.doi.org/10.5210/fm.v10i10.1286
  • Reifova, Irena Carpentier.& Fiserova, Sylvie. (2012). Ageing on-line in risk society: Elderly people managing the new risks via new media in the context of decreasing ontological security. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 6(2), article (Doi: 5. 10.5817/CP2012-2-5).
  • Rosenmayr, Leopold. (1998). "Generation. Zur Empirie und Theorie eines psycho–sozialen Konfliktfeldes (Generation. The empirical experience and the theory of a field of psycho–social conflict)," In: Martin Teising (editor). Altern: Äußere Realität, innere Wirklichkeiten: Psychoanalytische Beiträge zum Prozess des Alterns. Wiesbaden: Westdeutscher Verlag, pp. 17–44.
  • Russell, Daniel W. (1996). UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3): Reliability, Validity, and Factor Structure, Journal of Personality Assessment Volume 66, Issue 1. pp. 20-40 (DOI:10.1207/s15327752jpa6601_2).
  • Trabucchi, Marco. (2011). Daily Mail Reporter, Facebook and YouTube help the elderly 'keep their brains active and reduce stress and depression'. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1376507/Facebook-YouTube-helpelderly-brains-active-reduce-stress-depression.html on 05.04.2015
  • Tufan, İsmail. (2007). Birinci Türkiye Yaşlılık Raporu, http://www.itgevakif.com/pdfs/I. TürkiyeYaşlılıkRaporu_itufan_sicher.pdf
  • Tufan, İsmail. (2011). Violence Against The Elderly in Turkey. A Section From 1st Turkey Atlas Of Gerontology Geroatlas National Social and Applied Association of Gerontology Antalya, Retrieved from http://www.inpea.net/images/Turkey_Violence__Against_Elderly_2011.pdf / on 12.01.2015