摘要：The concepts of user and non-user are frequently deployed within media and communicationsliterature. What do these terms mean if examined regarding age and ageing? In thisarticle we explore and trouble these notions through an analysis of twenty-two conversationswith a group of octogenarians and nonagenarians living in a retirement home. Theirdescriptions of their changing uses of media througout lifetime, and their encounters withmobile phones, computers, newspapers, television, radio and landline phones, are presentedas a set of ‘techno-biographies’ that challenge binary divisions of use and non-use, linearnotions of media adoption, and add texture to the idea of ‘the fourth age’ as a time of lifebereft of decisional power. Speaking with octogenarians and nonagenarians provides insightsinto media desires, needs and uses, and opens up ‘non-use’ as a complex, variegatedactivity, rather than a state of complete inaction or disinterest.
关键词：ageing; octo- & nonagenarian; digital communication media; use; non-use
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