Social Media Dependency and Civic Engagement Among Older Urban Adults in Korea

Social media has been found to impact civic engagement significantly (Gil de Zúñiga et al., 2012; Y. C. Kim & Shin, 2013; Y. C. Kim & Shin, 2016; Y. C. Kim et al., 2019; Zhang et al., 2010). However, there has been little focus on how social media use affects civic engagement among older adults, despite such usage for this population having grown significantly in recent years, both in Korea (Korea National Information Society Agency, 2022) and elsewhere (CBS, 2018; Cotten et al., 2022; Ofcom, 2017; Ortiz-Ospina, 2019). Many older adults in Korea, defined here as those older than 65, are active users of social media platforms, such as Kakao Talk or Band, both of which offer group chat functions and are the most common messenger services in Korea. Through such platforms, this demographic often shares postings on civic and political topics at both the local and national levels (Choi, 2017; Y. Min, 2019). Recently, older adults in Korea have been among the most active participants in street rallies on national political issues (Ahn & Lee, 2019; D. I. Kim, 2017). They are also more active participants in local community engagement (Kang, 2013; S. H. Lee, 2014) than their younger counterparts (Bae & Park, 2016; Y. Lee, 2016).

Even with increasing social media use and the intensification of political and civic engagement among older adults, there have not been many systematic investigations of the relationship between their social media use and civic engagement. Numerous studies on social media and civic engagement have included individuals aged 65 and older as part of their research samples. However, due to the unique generational experiences that older adults in Korea have had in terms of their use of social media and participation in civic and political activities, it is prudent to conduct a study that focuses exclusively on this specific demographic. In a rapidly aging society, exploring the relationship between seniors' adoption of social media and their participation in civic affairs requires a comprehensive examination of the political, social, and economic contexts that shape their lives. It also requires a thorough understanding of the changes in their physical, cognitive, and social capacities. Therefore, separate studies focusing exclusively on older adults are essential for a more nuanced understanding of these dynamics in older adults.

Using communication infrastructure theory (CIT, Ball-Rokeach et al., 2001; Y. C. Kim & Ball-Rokeach, 2006a) and the social media dependency (SMD) model (Ball-Rokeach, 1998; Y. C. Kim & Jung, 2017; Y. C. Kim et al., 2019), this study hypothesizes that social media dependency (i.e., the degree to which social media use is central to achieving everyday goals) positively affects civic and political engagement among older adults. Among many social media services available in Korea, we focus on Kakao Talk, as it is the most common among older adults. We consider civic engagement on both the national and local levels. Previous studies on social media’s impact on civic engagement have not clearly differentiated these levels. Whether civic engagement is at the national or local level will determine the type of resources needed (Trounstine, 2009). Given the political, economic, and social context, and physical, cognitive, and social conditions and capacities of older adults, it is necessary to distinguish whether civic engagement is at the national or local level. The distinction between these levels is particularly important because the amount of communication resources and social capital older people have for different levels (e.g., national, and local levels) may affect the relationship between their social media use and civic engagement. Particular for the current study, it remains unclear whether SMD is more closely related to national-level civic engagement (e.g., showing interest in and expressing opinions about national issues, participating in protests on national issues, and so on) or to local-level civic engagement (e.g., being interested in local issues, engaging in local organizations, participating in local activities, and so on). By differentiating the levels of civic engagement, we can develop a better understanding of social media’s impact on civic engagement among older adults.

METHOD

MEASURES

RESULTS

The first hypothesis proposed that SMD would be positively associated with national-level civic engagement variables, such as political interest, political efficacy, and political participation. As shown in Table 1, social media dependency was positively associated with both national-level political interest, b (SE) = 0.26(0.09), p = .001, and national-level political efficacy, b(SE) = 0.35(0.07), p < .001.

Table 1.

Result of Hierarchical Regression Analyses

However, as shown in Table 2, social media dependency was not significantly associated with national-level political participation. Thus, Hypothesis 1 was confirmed for national-level political interest and political efficacy, but not for national-level political participation.

Table 2.

Results of Generalized Ordinal Logistic Regression Analyses

The second hypothesis concerns the association between social media dependency and local-level civic engagement variables (local community interest, local community collective efficacy, and local community participation). The results presented in Tables 1 and 2 show positive associations for all of the local-level civic engagement variables: community interest, b(SE) = 0.29(0.08), p = .038, collective efficacy, b(SE) = 0.45(0.10), p < .001, and community participation, b(SE) = 0.51(0.18), p = .005. Hypothesis 2 was therefore confirmed for all of local-level community engagement variables.

Our research question investigated whether national-level civic engagement or local-level civic engagement would be more strongly associated with social media dependency among older adults. To answer this, we compared the regression coefficients of social media dependency for the parallel dependent variables between local community interest and national political interest, between local community collective efficacy and national political efficacy, and between local-level civic participation and national-level political participation. We did not find any significant differences between the regression coefficients for local community interest and national political interest or between those for local community collective efficacy and national political efficacy. However, we did find a significant difference between the regression coefficients for local-level civic participation and national-level political participation. Social media dependency was significantly related only to locallevel civic participation but not to national-level political participation, and their differences were statistically significant (z = 5.87, p < .001).

DISCUSSION

This study investigated whether SMD (measured as Kakao Talk dependency) among older adults in Korea would affect civic engagement differently at the local and national levels. In survey interviews with respondents aged 65 and older, we found that SMD was associated with all of the civic engagement variables at both the local- and national-levels, except for national-level political participation. There were no significant differences in the degree of SMD influence between national-level political interest and local-level community interest or between national-level political efficacy and local-level collective efficacy. However, we did find a significant difference between national-level political participation and local-level civic participation, in terms of the degree to which they were influenced by SMD. Additionally, SMD was significantly and positively associated with locallevel civic participation but not with national-level political participation. A summary of these results is presented in Table 3.

Table 3.

Summary of Results

These results have several theoretical and practical implications. First, the current study’s findings support the SMD model (Y. C. Kim & Jung, 2017). Y. C. Kim and Jung (2017) suggested that SMD would be positively associated with online and offline storytelling actions for issues relevant to social media users. Similarly, Y. C. Kim et al. (2019) found that SMD positively impacts storytelling about community issues and civic engagement (neighborhood-level collective efficacy and civic participation). By demonstrating the significant positive relationship between SMD and political participation for both national- and neighborhood-level issues among older Korean adults, the current study largely echoes Y. C. Kim et al.’s (2019) work and other previous works works (Bakker & Dekker, 2012; Ellison et al., 2007; Enjolras et al., 2013; Gil de Zúñiga, 2012; Hargittai & Sahw, 2013; Skoric et al., 2016; Tsai & Men, 2013; Valenzuela et al., 2009). The results of the present study suggest that, in the current media environment, SMD can be a useful tool for older adults’ active civic engagement, not only at the local level but also at the national level. However, several issues remain that need to be explored to understand the process more fully: for example, we have yet to investigate the real mechanisms (e.g., providing information, action plans, or social networks) through which SMD affects civic engagement at both local and national levels. Moreover, it needs to be assessed whether there are specific types of civic engagement activities that are more closely related to SMD than others, and whether issue specific SMD or general SMD (used in this study) is more suitable for theorizing the relationship between SMD and civic engagement.

Second, our outcomes are generally consistent with those of previous studies, which have found that media use positively effects civic engagement (Enjolras et al., 2013; Pasek et al., 2006). As with previous work on adolescents (Farnham et al., 2012; Lenzi et al., 2015) and younger adults (Gil de Zúñiga et al., 2012; Jiang & Li, 2018; Y. Kim et al., 2013; S.H. Lee, 2014; Loader et al., 2014), we demonstrated that SMD appears to promote older adults’ civic engagement in relation to both national-level (Goerres, 2009; Y. Min, 2019) and local-level issues (DeSantis & Hill, 2004; Kang, 2013). Our results suggest that older adults in Korea receive and share information on national and local topics through Kakao Talk; its use seems to increase interest levels in national and local issues among them, in similar ways to its effect on their younger counterparts (M. Lee et al., 2017; Seol, 2018). The study’s outcomes also show that social media use does more than simply increase older adults’ interest in national or local issues; it also strengthens their perceived efficacy to change the situation. In other words, our results indicate that sharing news and information regarding national and local issues through Kakao Talk boosts the political and collective efficacy of older adults at the national and local levels. Older adults’ social media use could bolster their confidence in being agents of change in both national and local contexts.

It is important to grasp the generational experiences shared among older adults in Korea to understand the findings about the relationship between SMD and civic engagement. This demographic has often been marginalized in Korean public life, at both the national and local levels, and their social role and status have likewise dramatically diminished, at least in part because of the decline in importance of traditional Confucianism as Korean society has modernized, thus ceasing to emphasize respect for older adults. Koreans who are now 65 and older share a history of early-life adversity, having witnessed Japanese colonial rule, the Korean War, and the severe poverty of the 1950s, as well as the successful rapid industrialization and economic development of the country between 1960s and 1980s. Many older Korean adults complain that the younger generation does not appreciate their sacrifice, hard work, and achievements. These sentiments are often accompanied by feelings of disappointment and frustration, which were often shared face-to-face in small peer groups before social media were used. As SMD has increased, older adults have become better connected to one another in new ways and can now share their common feelings much more easily. In addition, thanks to social media, they have often developed confidence or a sense of self-efficacy that they can work together and do something for their national and local communities.

The third point worth highlighting is that SMD influences local-level participation more strongly and consistently than national-level political participation. This may be relatively easy to understand: local communities are geographically closer to older adults, and local issues, events, or meetings are more familiar and more relevant to them than national ones. Therefore, it is less difficult for this demographic, including those with physical challenges and limitations, to participate in local activities than to in national-level political activities. Furthermore, it may not always be easy for older adults to participate in national-level activities, such as street protests. Indeed, the results of the current study affirm that SMD may be insufficient for facilitating national-level political participation. Other conditions should also be satisfied for older adults’ participation in national-level political activities, such as organized mobilizing efforts (Leighley, 1996), institutional membership (i.e., party membership, Allern & Pedersen, 2007; Djupe & Grant, 2001), systemic social support (Hays & Kogl, 2007; McClurg, 2003), and individual-level physical health and motivation (Burden et al., 2017). Previous studies on social media use and political participation (e.g., Skoric et al., 2016) has not been able to make this point with clarity and sophistication, primarily because they have not differentiated levels of participation (national vs. local) and have not focused on older adults, which we attempted to do in this study.

Fourth, our results suggest that social media has the potential for being used as localized ICTs (Y. C. Kim & Shin, 2016; Y. C. Kim et al., 2019) in urban neighborhoods, even among older adults. Described in CIT terms, social media platforms, such as Kakao Talk, can be developed into a resource for older adults’ participation in local storytelling. Previous studies have shown that older age is a positive factor in local civic engagement. This age group has traditionally played a crucial role in maintaining local knowledge, local memories, local ties, and placebased communities, even in the fast-changing urban neighborhoods of metropolitan cities like Seoul and Daejeon. This study shows that Korea’s older adults may be able to continue to play the roles of local storytellers with the help of new digital tools, such as social media platforms.

However, several questions remain unanswered regarding older adults’ social media use as a facilitating factor in local community participation. For example, one question could be: what would be good strategies for using social media to effectively increase the awareness of local issues among older adults?; in a polarized online media environment, what would be helpful ways to meet and discuss neighborhood issues on social media platforms (potentially as part of the community public sphere) for those with different political orientations and opinions?; what would be effective strategies for connecting older and younger residents through social media; and how could social media platforms be designed better to help older adults meet others with different opinions, orientations, lifestyles, and digital literacy levels to work together for their neighborhoods?

In addition to its contribution to the established literature, this study has some limitations. First, we recruited people aged 65 and older and treated them as one homogenous group. However, even within this demographic, there may be significantly different age cohorts, both in terms of technology use and civic engagement. Although we controlled for age in each of the analyses, future studies may need to investigate possible cohort effects, even among older adults regarding SMD effects on civic engagement, both at the national and local levels. Second, the data were collected through convenience sampling with the help of institutions for seniors located in Seoul and Daejeon. These results cannot be generalized: it remains to be asked whether similar results could be obtained for older adults who do not attend senior facilities, and for those who live in other cities, either inside or outside Korea including other Asian countries. This inquiry could be especially important for countries with different levels of ICT infrastructure and use patterns (the level of ICT infrastructure and ICT use in Korea are at the forefront, worldwide) and the traditions, opportunities, and restrictions on civic engagement. Even if one were to take the generalization question as resolved, the findings of this study could be taken as the basis for a future investigation of social media use and civic engagement among urban older adults. Finally, we did not address the possibility that national-and local-level civic engagement may influence each other. No overwhelming correlations between national-level civic engagement variables and local-level ones were found in our data, but there may still be some overlap or interaction between the two participation levels (e.g., in locally organized anti-government events or discussions of national issues through a local church’s Kakao Talk group). Future studies may need to consider how these two levels of civic engagement influence each other in older people’s lives and how social media may impact the ways in which different civic engagement activities at varying levels interact with each other. Finally, comparative studies focused on older adults from different social contexts and of diverse age groups could increase the external validity of this study.

Disclosure Statement

There is no potential conflict of interest.

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