OLD AGE AND SOCIAL NETWORKS: THE RISE OF THE VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES

Abstract

The present work exposes the implications of using information and communication technologies (ICT) in old age since these tools are important in promoting autonomy in performing different daily activities. However, there is a tendency to create gaps in access, learning, and perception of digital media as people age, crossed by stereotypes and the conditions of backwardness experienced by people aged 55 and older in Mexico (McCabe, Montes de Oca, Vivaldo-Martínez, Alhena, Arroyo, Aparicio, Avalos, Garay, and Rivera, 2022). All this, manifested in the midst of the pandemic by COVID-19, reflects relations of inequality in old age, but also ways of connecting and solidarity through virtual communities on Facebook or other communication networks in the digital space, interacting from comments to reactions to accompanying each other. By way of conclusion, the impact of confinement on the elderly resulted in exercising the right to information and access to technology to ensure a full life with the variety of opportunities offered by virtuality as forms of hybrid coexistence between the face-to-face and the digital, rising awareness of the dangers involved in this environment.