Proxy and learning back-feeding: How older adults use smartphones in China

Digital back-feeding is a bottom-up process by which younger generations teach or assist older generations in digital access, usage, and literacy. This study aims to examine how two means of digital back-feeding—proxy back-feeding and learning back-feeding—might be differently impacted by older adults’ perceptions of smartphone use, as well as their impact on older adults’ digital literacy. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey ( n = 433) was conducted in mainland China. Our findings revealed that perceived usefulness and perceived risk of smartphone use were positively associated with older adults’ engagement with both proxy back-feeding and learning back-feeding. Perceived ease of use was found to be negatively associated with older adults’ engagement in proxy back-feeding. In addition, older adults’ digital literacy was found to be negatively associated with proxy back-feeding, but positively associated with learning back-feeding. Results suggest that digital back-feeding is a complicated process that may influence older adults’ digital literacy through different routes, which deserves further investigation to bridge digital divide intergenerationally.