Aging in Digital Culture: How Older Smartphone Users Experience Aging

With the spread of mobile devices such as smartphones, smartwatches, and fitness trackers, technology is increasingly permeating our daily lives. They have also become “affective technologies” that influence our everyday emotions and perceptions and our experiences of aging. This paper investigates the association between mobile device use and the subjective experience of aging (SEA), with the hypothesis that the more frequently older adults use smartphones, the more positively they experience aging. A multiple hierarchical linear regression model was calculated based on a secondary analysis of Swiss survey data for older (≥ 65 years, N = 1037) adults. According to the survey data, 32.1% of participants used a smartphone. Univariate and multivariate analyses, controlled for a number of relevant confounders and the use of different devices, confirmed the positive relationship between frequency of smartphone use and SEA. The results suggest that mobile devices should be included as an independent variable when investigating subjective experiences of aging.