Researchers at Centre for Social Informatics published an article in the journal New Media & Society

Jošt Bartol, Dr. Katja Prevodnik,  Dr. Vasja Vehovar, and Dr. Andraž Petrovčič, researchers at the Centre for Social Informatics, published an original research article titled “The roles of perceived privacy control, Internet privacy concerns and Internet skills in the direct and indirect Internet uses of older adults: Conceptual integration and empirical testing of a theoretical model” in New Media & Society, a top-tier journal in the field of communication and Internet studies.

The ability to manage personal information on the Internet is becoming one of the key aspects of Internet users' digital engagement, while their attitudes toward (their) Internet privacy are an important factor in decisions about (non)use of Internet services. In particular, this holds for older adults who are generally more at risk of digital exclusion; not only because they are unable to adequately protect their privacy, but also because of a lack of general Internet skills.

In this article, the authors developed a new conceptual model based on three theories to explain how lack of Internet skills and high levels of Internet privacy concerns lead to non-use of Internet services among older Internet users and examine the role of use-by-proxy—a strategy in which less-skilled Internet users ask others (i.e., proxy providers) to conduct online activities on their behalf. The results showed that older users with higher levels of Internet privacy concerns and low Internet skills rely more on other users to perform various tasks online on their behalf. The findings of this study not only demonstrate the need for a more comprehensive understanding of use-by-proxy, which all groups of Internet users rely on to avoid potential and actual threats to their privacy, but also underscore the importance of future research on various aspects of Internet privacy to address the challenges of digital engagement among older adults.

The study was conducted as part of Jošt Bartol's Young Researcher fellowship, funded by the Slovenian Research Agency of the Republic of Slovenia, and co-funded by research project J5-2558 (The Implications of Proxy Internet Use for the Internet Skills of Older Adults) and research programme P5-0399 (Internet research).