The Relationship between Smartphone Use Motives, Social Capital, Digital Literacy, and Life Satisfaction in Elderly Koreans

As the elderly population increases, interest in life satisfaction in old age is increasing. We aimed to verify the relationship between social capital, smartphone use motives, and digital literacy and life satisfaction in Koreans aged 50-69 yr.

The data of 7,521 late-middle-aged and older adults from the 2019 survey on smartphone overdependence conducted by the National Information Society Agency were analyzed by hierarchical multi-regression analysis.

A hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that income(β=0.062) and educational background(β=0.054) were positively related to life satisfaction. Among the smartphone use motives, lifestyle motive(β=-0.069) was negatively related to life satisfaction. Digital literacy(β=0.145) and Social capital(β=0.425) were positively related to life satisfaction.

Digital literacy and social capital were positively associated with life satisfaction. In addition, this study considered the effects of lifestyle-based apps, while past studies only focused on communication- and leisure-based smartphone activities as factors influencing life satisfaction in adults in their 50s-60s. This study can provide a theoretical framework for therapeutic interventions to improve life satisfaction in the elderly.