Understanding antecedents to misinformation susceptibility for older adults

Digital communication technologies have great potential to enrich and transform our personal, professional, and educational lives. Over the past decade, older adults have increasingly embraced digital life to stay connected. Their use of digital communication technologies has further accelerated during the pandemic as most social support programs had to move online. While technologies such as online social networking websites can provide older adults with essential support and connectivity, these platforms also facilitate the spread of misinformation which can threaten one’s wellbeing and mobility through harmful health information. Older adults are particularly vulnerable to this threat as they may have difficulty detecting misinformation effectively due to decreased cognitive functions that are a natural by-product of aging. Being victimized by misinformation can lead to significant emotional, cognitive, and financial burdens that impact the mobility and well-being of older adults. While this demographic has been recognized as being at high risk for misinformation, older adults are severely under-researched when it comes to the negative effects of technology use.

This proposed program of research will provide a much-needed understanding of how older adults are impacted by the technology threat of misinformation and how to design support to encourage resilience to misinformation that results in improved well-being and mobility for older adults. Specifically, this research aims to understand key antecedents to misinformation susceptibility for older adults from three perspectives: individual, medium, and message characteristics. Based on these findings, this project will design and evaluate an educational program aimed to support older adults in their misinformation detection and coping. This will provide designers of technologies/platforms insights into detection and coping strategies that will mitigate the negative effect of misinformation on older adults. These insights can also help inform and direct public policy in combating IT threats.