JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Loneliness is recognized as a global health threat. Older adults are vulnerable to loneliness due to life-changes common in old age. While individual risk factors of loneliness in old age are well-documented, contextual factors are scarcely explored, such as digitalization. Rapid digitalization underscores the need to explore the long-term effect of use of digital devices on loneliness.

Objective:

To explore whether and how the use of digital devices is associated with changes in loneliness over a ten-year period in a population-based sample of older adults.

Methods:

Data were obtained from the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging (SATSA) (N=771; mean age 69.4 years). Digital use use and loneliness was assessed across five waves between 2004 and 2014. Age, sex, education, living situation, self-rated health, and the personality trait openness were assessed at baseline. Growth Mixture Modeling was employed to identify latent trajectories of loneliness, and multinomial logistic regression predicted class membership based on baseline digital use and covariates.

Results:

Three latent loneliness classes were identified: Class 1 (10.5%; high intercept and significant increases in loneliness), Class 2 (33.2%; intermediate stable loneliness), and Class 3 (56.3%; low stable loneliness). Higher digital use at baseline significantly decreased the odds of belonging to the high-increasing loneliness group (Class 1) compared to the low-stable group (Class 3; OR 0.76, p=0.02, CI: 0.60-0.96). When comparing the two groups with higher loneliness levels (Class 1 vs. Class 2), digital use was the only significant predictor; higher use lowered the odds of experiencing increasing loneliness over time (OR 0.77, p=0.04). Differences between classes were not explained by the personality trait of openness to experience.

Conclusions:

Higher use of digital devices is associated with lower and more stable levels of loneliness over time. These findings suggest that digital technology might serve as an effective non-invasive tool to combat loneliness in older populations.