Understanding older adults’ smartphone addiction in the digital age: empirical evidence from China

BACKGROUND: Despite the fact that an increasing number of older adults are addicted to smartphones, the existing addiction literature still focuses primarily on adolescents. To address this issue, this study draws from the perspectives of subjective cognitive decline and family relationship conflict to examine older adults’ smartphone addiction based on their key characteristics. METHODS: This study investigates the effects of subjective cognitive decline and family relationship conflict on older adults’ smartphone addiction through a survey of 371 subjects in China. RESULTS: The results show that subjective cognitive decline and family relationship conflict affect older adults’ smartphone addiction through a sense of alienation. In addition, older adults’ perceived power moderates the relationship between alienation and smartphone addiction. DISCUSSION: This study offers new perspectives on the study of smartphone addiction from the perspective of older adults, and sheds light on how to improve the older adults’ quality of life in their later years.