Interaction of older adults in virtual social networks (facebook) and its relationship with subjective well-being Interacción de adultos mayores en redes sociales virtuales (facebook) y su relación con el bienestar subjetivo

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a qualitative research carried out with 22 older adults who were users of Facebook from different cities in Latin America and Spain, with the aim of showing the effect of the use of virtual social networks on the subjective well-being of older people. To achieve this goal, we conducted semi-structured individual interviews -via video-calls-, and the information was analyzed and organized based on emergent categories following the methodological principles of Glaser and Strauss’ Grounded Theory (1967). The results show that older adults have three specific reasons for using virtual social networks (VSN): social reasons, family-related reasons, and reasons related to productivity. It was also found that older adults, despite being digital immigrants, are not passive consumers of digital content, but are active generators and producers of digital content. We concluded that interaction with VSN fosters psychosocial mechanisms, habits and behaviors that favor subjective well-being, similar to those claimed by Berkman, Glass, Brissette & Seeman (2000), such as social support, communication with people who have similar interests, autonomy, and achievement of personal life goals.