The Use of Information and Communication Technologies by Elderly People (Sociological Survey Data)

Abstract

The article considers how elderly people use different types of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and studies their readiness to use ICT in everyday life, based on the data obtained in a sociological survey. We made a hypothesis that age has an effect on older people’s attitudes towards ICT. In this article ICT will include the Internet, mobile devices and on-line banking. We discovered the types of ICT which will be used by older people in their everyday lives. We stipulated four areas of the use of ICT in older people’s lives such as financial, administrative, accessible and entertainment. During our research we concluded that respondents aged 55 to 64 are more active in using IT and demonstrate their interest in different spheres of everyday life. We also concluded that there were no differences in the results between genders. Overall, the sociological survey has indicated that more than 42% of respondents have the skills to use modern Information Technologies. It has been noted that over the past years the government has been encouraging older people to use ICT in their lives. The government in the Tomsk region is also working to achieve this.