Research On Social Media Use Of Older Adults From The Perspective Of Self-Determination Theory

This paper,based on the Self-Determination Theory—a classic theory,proposed by Deci and Ryan,which researches human behaviors’ motivation in positive psychology,focuses on the elderly’s use of social media,aiming to penetrate the social media use of the elder with different characteristics,discover effective ways to promote their digital inclusion and gain more perceptual awareness about digital inclusion issues among them.The study,taking the elderly over 60 years old in Jingzhou City as the research object,analyzes the social media use model and the satisfaction degree of basic psychological needs of the elderly with different demographic conditions through the questionnaires.We also put forward reflections on the practical problems in the digital integration of the elderly,using indepth interviews to know more about the use environment of social media and the quality of motivation.The findings of the questionnaire are as follows:(1)Regarding demography variables,there are significant differences in the use of social media and the satisfaction of basic psychological needs of the elderly.Some factors,such as living area,educational level,income level,and health condition can cause significant differences in the overall level of the use of social media and the satisfaction of basic network psychological needs while the gender can’t.(2)The use of social media is positively correlated with the satisfaction of basic network psychological needs.(3)In terms of the use of social media and satisfaction of basic network psychological needs,the elderly with moderately advantageous conditions achieve the highest level while the elderly with the best demographic conditions aren’t outstanding.Furthermore,the more disadvantaged the elderly are,the lower level they get.Based on the analysis of the questionnaire,selecting the elderly in three types of situations to conduct in-depth interviews,the result shows that the motivation for the elderly to use the social media is mainly external motivation,the satisfaction level of basic network psychological needs,and the quality of motivation are highly consistent and the higher the degree of satisfaction of basic network psychological needs are,the higher quality of the motivation they keep and vice versa.The environmental factors that affect the three basic psychological needs of the elderly,namely,autonomy,competence,and relationship,mainly include usage scenario,health status,the difficulty degree of function,external feedback,as well as social scale.On the basis of questionnaires and interviews,this paper proposes a theoretical model of the mechanism of action among behaviors,motivations and basic network psychological needs,provides a targeted plan to help the elderly to enhance their motivation to use social media,and emphasizes the importance of respecting the “disconnect” right of the elderly.