Self-initiated (re)education of digital technology in retired content creators

The retired population in the United Kingdom is rising and statistics show that growth in the use of digital technologies and the Internet are also increasing within this age group. Small but substantial proportions are using the Internet for something more than to search and consume online goods and materials. This article explores what and where retired people learn digital technologies, skills often more directly associated with people born into a digital world. Through the use of qualitative data this article provides an insight into the (re)education of retired Internet users who are using digital technology and web media to create and share their own content. Digital technology within this sample of over 65s is often learnt unintentionally as a consequence of adopting a new hobby or interest in retirement or the rediscovery of an old one that they may not have been able to explore prior to retirement.

© Tim Riley 2013. The definitive, peer reviewed and edited version of this article is published in Northern Lights: Film & Media Studies Yearbook. 2013, Vol. 11 Issue 1, p51-69. 19p. DOI link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1386/nl.11.1.51_1