Geographical Distance to Children and Internet Use among Older Europeans

Bruno Arpino , University of Florence

Given the increasing importance of internet in daily life, we examined the role of children in the internet use of older Europeans. Using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we found that internet use was the highest among parents with all children living far away. This result bring support to the hypothesis that geographical distance between parents and children might be an important stimulus for older adult to use internet, rather than to the hypothesis that children living close may help older parents to use internet and digital tools. Future studies, using more detail information on internet use and motivations to its use can examine this topic in further detail.

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 Presented in Session P1. Postercafe