Scrolling with Caution: Perceptions of Older Adults on Ethical Issues in Social Media

The use of social media is widespread in current communication practices; however, the ethical implications of these applications on vulnerable populations, particularly older adults, are under researched. Although the number of older adults participating in digital processes is increasing, they remain vulnerable due to low digital literacy and inadequate protection of these platforms. This work explores the ethical issues that older adults in The Netherlands face when using social media. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 19 older adults. We focused the interviews on their ethical concerns about social media platforms and on the solutions they propose to alleviate these concerns. We used open coding to identify meaningful patterns in their answers. Participants raised serious ethical concerns about privacy, misinformation, addiction, and censorship. Such worries were generally associated with the difficulty of understanding the platform’s practices and the inability to control their digital experience. Numerous participants requested that communication be made more explicit, transparent and advocate policy-driven initiatives from governments that promote safer and more ethical digital spaces. We conclude that the ethical concerns of older adults should not be disregarded to ensure their sense of inclusion and have agency within the increasingly digital society to protect them.