Gaining Technological Autonomy and Social-emotional Support: A Case Study of How and Why Chinese Older Adults Engage with a Semi-acquaintance Online Community

作     者：Qian, Zhigu Fu, Jiaojiao Zhou, Yangfan 

作者机构：School of Computer Science Fudan University Shanghai Key Laboratory of Intelligent Information Processing Shanghai China School of Information Science and Engineering East China University of Science and Technology Shanghai China 

出 版 物：《Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction》 (Proc. ACM Hum. Comput. Interact.)

年 卷 期：2024年第8卷第CSCW2期

页      面：1-35页

核心收录：

基　　金：This research was funded by the Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai (Project No. 22ZR1407900). We extend our sincere thanks to all the participants who made this research possible  and we are also grateful for the insightful feedback provided by the anonymous reviewers from CSCW on the earlier versions of this work. Jiaojiao Fu is the corresponding author 

主　　题：Marketplaces 

摘      要：Older adults are often underserved and marginalized in technology engagement due to their reluctance and the barriers they face in adopting and engaging with mainstream technology. However, Pinxiaoquan, a social feature of an e-commerce platform in China, has gained a large number of older users. This work investigates how and why Chinese older adults use Pinxiaoquan, aiming to unveil the underlying logic and inspire technology-inclusive design for older adults. To this end, we conducted a mixed-methods qualitative study over two years, which included online observation, and semi-interview. We found that Pinxiaoquan’s success among Chinese older adults is mainly due to its ability to inspire technological autonomy and provide social-emotional support. Rather than simply lowering technical barriers or asking them to seek assistance outside the platform, Pinxiaoquan builds a semi-acquaintance online community based on location and social ties that allows older adults to realize technical support mutually. Pinxiaoquan also fulfills their social-emotional needs, such as free online expression, memory creation and preservation, relationship expansion and maintenance, and a sense of value. Our research contributes to the HCI community by highlighting the importance of improving older adults’ technology autonomy following their specific social and cultural background and social-emotional needs. This work also provides unique insights and implications for building inclusive technology for the growing aging population. © 2024 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).