Overcoming the Silver Generation Digital Gap

Carlos Vaz de Carvalho (Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto, Portugal)

Pedro Cano (Universidad de Granada, Spain)

José Maria Roa (Universidad de Granada, Spain)

Anna Wanka (University of Vienna, Austria)

Franz Kolland (University of Vienna, Austria)

Abstract: Being able to effectively use online tools has become a fundamental competence in our Society. Therefore, it is important to tackle the age digital divide as there is a rapidly growing number of elderly people. Like everyone else, older adults (senior citizens or the silver generation) must be equipped with the necessary skills to be able to be connected and integrated in the online world to prevent their social isolation and to foster their inclusion. As a contribution to that effort, a European-wide digital literacy development initiative for senior citizens was setup and this article presents the analysis of the achieved results which shows a very positive perception of the seniors on the developed digital abilities.

Keywords: active ageing, adult education, knowledge society, lifelong learning, senior citizens, silver generation

Categories: H.1.2, H.5.1, H.5.m, J.4, K.4.2