Examining the experiences of older individuals regarding the use of digital technology: A qualitative research

The purpose of this study was to investigate elderly individuals ' perspectives on digital technology use. One of the qualitative research designs, descriptive phenomenology, was employed in the study to accomplish this goal. The research was conducted with the participation of 41 individuals, five women and thirty-six men, aged 65 and over, residing in Denizli province. Structured interview questions developed by the researcher were used as data collection tools in the study. The data of the research was collected in June 2023. The data obtained in the research were analyzed using the content analysis technique. As a result of the findings obtained from the interviews, the main themes were discovered as the "purposes", "likes", "dislikes" and "wants to benefit from" the elderly individuals participating in the research in using digital tools. It has been discovered that older individuals use digital tools to exchange information, spend time – entertainment, and facilitate transactions. It has been determined that elderly individuals like the physical features of the digital tool and the aspects related to the transactions made using the digital tool. It has been determined that elderly individuals do not like aspects of the content and situations that make them difficult to use digital tools. However, it has been observed that older individuals have developed some suggestions to facilitate the use of digital tools and the content and situations encountered in digital tools.