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Intergenerational Social Media Use: Expectations of Adults and Elder Users

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Human Aspects of IT for the Aged Population. Technology and Society (HCII 2020)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 12209))

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Abstract

Since their origins, social media have been used by people belonging to different generations. The paper will describe how different generations use social media and is based on a review of literature and research projects. Observing social media users from a generational point of view allows to understand the different imaginations, interpretations of the platforms that each generation has developed and which often translate into different uses and processes of mutual adaptation. Furthermore, the generational post of view allows to understand how social media are used as a stage on which different generational identities are expressed and challenged through new forms of generational narratives. Narratives that allow generations to co-built each other through mutual representations.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Since the distinction between generations is affected by the cultural context in which they were formed, we take up the distinction relating to Italian generations proposed by Aroldi [2] in the volume Media e generations in Italian society. The only variation is that the term Neo will not be used for the generation born between the mid-sixties and the end of the seventies, but that of Generation X. The choice of the term Neo, in fact, is linked to the particular experiences that this generation he lived with respect to the evolution of the Italian television system. Although crucial in defining generations of television users, it seemed more appropriate to adopt a broader definition in this context.

  2. 2.

    These observations refer to the Italian context and are not applicable to the global scenario, but only to European countries where media innovations have had similar timelines. However, the following analysis can be replicable in different countries according with the different media innovation timeline.

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  1. Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo Gemelli, 1, 20123, Milan, Italy

    Nicoletta Vittadini

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Correspondence to Nicoletta Vittadini .

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  1. Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

    Qin Gao

  2. Chongqing University, Chongqing, China

    Jia Zhou

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Vittadini, N. (2020). Intergenerational Social Media Use: Expectations of Adults and Elder Users. In: Gao, Q., Zhou, J. (eds) Human Aspects of IT for the Aged Population. Technology and Society. HCII 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12209. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50232-4_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50232-4_8

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