Interview-based Study about the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Smartphone Use among the Seniors in China’s Firsttier Cities

¹ Department of Arts, Culture and Media, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto M5V 0B1, Canada
² Department of Arts and Media, Tongji University, Shanghai, 20000, China
³ Department of Tourism Studies, Jinan University, Shenzhen, 518053, China
⁴ Department of National Security, University of International Relations, Beijing, 100000, China

^* Corresponding author. Email: anqiyilia.chen@mail.utoronto.ca
^† These authors contributed equally.

Abstract

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic was a sudden disaster for all human beings. To prevent the spread of the pandemic, China used smart facilities to manage it, especially relying on smartphones. This study examines what the impact of the pandemic is on the use of smartphones by seniors, a group that is weaker in the use of smart devices. The study looks at the situation with seniors in the new media environment, seeking to help them cross the digital divide and bring social attention to their plight during the pandemic. The authors conducted in-depth interviews with 52 seniors from first-tier cities in China and then did a discourse analysis of the interviews. The study found that the pandemic increased the smartphone penetration among the seniors, and helped them mitigate the digital divide and increase their social adaptability. However, it is still noteworthy for smartphone addiction.