우리는 노년층의 스마트폰 이용에 대해 얼마나 알고 있는가?: 노년층 내에서의 디지털 격차 결정요인 (How much do we know about the use of smartphones in the silver generation?: Determinants of the digital divide within the silver generation)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국정보사회학회
· 수록지 정보 : 정보사회와 미디어 / 21권 / 3호 / 33 ~ 64페이지
· 저자명 : 김지현

초록

이 연구의 목적은 노년층을 대상으로 집단을 세분화시켜 그들의 미디어 이용, 구체적으로는 스마트폰과 같은 디지털 기기 활용 현황을 체계적으로 살펴보는데 있다. 이를 위해 정보통신정책연구원의 ‘2019 한국미디어패널조사’ 데이터를 활용해 3가지의 주된 질문에 답하고자 했다. 첫째, 노년층은 스마트폰을 디지털 기기로 활용하고 있는가, 그것에 영향을 주는 요인은 무엇인가? 둘째, 노년층은 스마트폰으로 무엇을 하는가? 스마트폰을 이용하는 목적은 무엇이며, 얼마나 다양하게 활용하는가? 셋째, 노년층 내 스마트폰 이용역량과 그것에 영향을 주는 요인은 무엇인가? 디지털 격차 결정요인은 크게 인구통계학적 변수와 관계적 변수로 나누어 분석했다. 분석 결과, 성별, 학력, 소득, 직업의 유무, 거주지역과 같은 인구통계학적 특성뿐만 아니라 배우자의 유무, 가족 구성원의 형태와 같은 사회적 관계망 역시 노년층의 스마트폰 애플리케이션 이용 경험에 영향을 주는 것으로 나타났다. 또한, 노년층 내에서도 연령대별로 스마트폰을 다양하게 활용하는 정도에 차이를 보였으며, 인구통계학적 특성 전반과 사회적 관계망 중 가족 구성원의 형태에 따라 스마트폰을 이용하는 목적에 차이가 있는 것으로 나타났다. 결혼 여부/배우자의 유무 등에 따른 차이는 없었다. 마지막으로 인구통계학적 특성은 노년층의 스마트폰 이용역량에도 영향을 주었으며, 사회적 관계망과 스마트폰의 이용목적에 따라서도 노년층의 스마트폰 이용 역량에 차이를 보였다. 이러한 분석 결과를 통해 빠르게 변화하는 사회 속에서 1) 노년층에게 의미있는 자원(source)으로써의 스마트폰의 역할을 탐구하려는 연구자들에게 기초자료를 제시하고, 2) 노년층 내 디지털디바이드(digital divide) 문제에 대한 정책적 방향성을 제공하고자 했다.

영어초록

“Aging” and “development of information and communications technology” are words that represent the characteristics of modern society. South Korea, a powerhouse in information and communication technology, has progressed rapidly in aging and in 1999 it has already become an aging society. The fact that the baby boom generation, who has been in social life in the 1990s and 2000s when the Internet was rapidly developed, is flowing into the elderly from 2020, suggests that an academic approach to the elderly needs to pay attention to the divergence within the elderly. However, media studies so far have been stingy at attempting to subdivide the group by excluding the elderly aged 60 or older from the target of analysis or by assuming it as a single group and analyzing it. It would be too wasteful to repeat the mechanical analysis after setting the group that has flowed into the elderly and the baby boomers as one group without having enough access to information and communication technologies such as the Internet. This study aims to systematically examine the state of the elderly's use of media, specifically the use of digital devices such as smartphones, while redefining the elderly as active members of society. The current study will try to understand the determinants of the digital divide that is taking place within the elderly by analyzing smarphone use.
Based on it, this study attempted to answer three main questions. First, what are the factors that affect whether the elderly use smartphone applications(excluding simple phone calls and text messages)? Second, what do older people do with their smartphones? What are the differences within the elderly? Third, how is the ability to use smartphones among the elderly? What are the factors that influence it? For the analysis, the 'Korea Media Panel Survey' of the Korea Information Society Development Institute(KISDI) was used as secondary data. The determinants of digital disparity were largely divided into demographic variables and relational variables.
As a result of the analysis, it was found that not only demographic characteristics such as gender, education, income, and occupation, but also social network such as the presence of a spouse and the type of family members living together also influence the experience of using smartphone applications in the elderly. In addition, there was a difference in the degree of various use of smartphones by age group even within the elderly, and there was a difference in the types of smartphone applications mainly used according to the overall demographic characteristics (including gender, education, income, jod) and the type of family members among the social network(family type). There was no difference according to marital status. And in order to see how variously the smartphone is used, we analyzed how many applications are mainly used. Even among the elderly, the younger the age, the more diversely using smartphones as digital devices, specifically, there was a difference of about twice as much in the degree of various applications in their 60s and 80s. Lastly, demographic characteristics influenced the smartphone use capability of the elderly, and there was a difference in smartphone use capability of the elderly according to the social network and the motivation of using the smartphone. Based on these analysis results, this study intended 1) to present basic data to researchers who want to explore the role of smartphones as a meaningful resource for the elderly in a rapidly changing society, and 2) to provide a policy direction for the problem of digital divide within the elderly.

참고자료

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