What did you study?
I studied how Finnish adults aged 65 and over use digital technologies. I am particularly interested in how older adults engage with different digital devices, applications, and services as part of their everyday lives.
What were your findings?
Older adults’ use of digital technologies is diverse and varied. Age alone does not explain how actively people engage with, for instance, digital services. What matters more is how technologies are connected to older adults’ life situations and social networks. The use of digital technologies can either support or undermine subjective wellbeing, depending on how well they serve older adults’ needs.
It is important to recognise that older adults do not simply use all digital technologies. Instead, they build their own digital repertoire, that is, the combination of devices, applications, and services they prefer in everyday life. In addition to routines, digital repertoires are shaped by creative problem-solving, informal digital support from family and friends, and non-digital alternatives.
How can the findings be applied?
The research shows that digital service design and policymaking concerning older adults should move beyond simplistic user categories towards recognising the heterogeneity of everyday digital practices. Tracking usage rates alone is not sufficient. It is important to provide digital services that everyone can use and that support older adults’ subjective wellbeing.
Riitta Hänninen’s doctoral dissertation in social and public policy, Many Tales of Heterogeneity – Ageing in a Digitalising Society, will be publicly defended on Saturday 3 October 2026 at 12 noon in Auditorium 3, Agora Building, University of Jyväskylä. The Opponent is Simone Carlo (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore) and the Custos is Professor Sakari Taipale (University of Jyväskylä).
Language of the defence is English. You can read the doctoral dissertation online here.
