“It doesn’t make my life easier, doesn’t make it harder”: Human infrastructures of digital welfare in later life

Paper Title

“It doesn't make my life easier, doesn't make it harder”: Human infrastructures shaping older adults' engagement with digital welfare systems

Publication Info

• Topic area: Older adults' engagement with digital welfare systems and the role of human infrastructure.
• Keywords: Digital welfare, older adults, human infrastructure, digital inclusion, delegation, relational fit, anticipatory infrastructure, digital public services, HCI, sociotechnical systems.

Background and Problem

• Problem / challenge: Digitalisation of public services risks excluding older adults, with current approaches overly focused on individual digital literacy and autonomy, neglecting the social and infrastructural dimensions of digital engagement.
• Significance: Understanding and addressing these gaps is critical to ensuring equitable access to essential services for older adults, particularly in rapidly digitalising societies.
• Motivation and related work: Previous research has framed older adults as either digitally deficient or diverse agents, but has not sufficiently explored the relational and infrastructural practices that sustain their digital participation. This paper builds on the concept of "human infrastructure" to examine how older adults engage with digital systems through social and institutional networks.

Solution

• Proposed approach: The study investigates how older adults in Shantou, China, sustain digital engagement through human infrastructure, proposing conceptual shifts in understanding digital welfare and offering design recommendations for relational and anticipatory support.
• Novelty:
  1. Identifies nine collaborative roles that older adults and their networks use to navigate digital systems.
  2. Introduces the concept of anticipatory human infrastructure, highlighting forward-looking practices to prepare for system breakdowns.
  3. Reframes digital engagement as an infrastructural accomplishment rather than an individual capability.
  4. Proposes design principles for relational fit and neighbourhood-based delegation hubs.
• Procedure and key techniques:
  • Conducted semi-structured interviews with 17 participants (10 older adults, 7 service providers) in Shantou, focusing on moments of difficulty, breakdowns, and help-seeking.
  • Analyzed data using a thematic approach informed by the human infrastructure framework, capturing relational, affective, and habitual dimensions of digital engagement.

Results

• Concrete findings:
  • Older adults rarely used digital systems independently but relied on dense social networks and institutional support to complete tasks.
  • Identified nine collaborative roles, ranging from independent use to full delegation, illustrating diverse modes of digital engagement.
  • System interruptions were frequent and tied to structural dynamics, such as fiscal cycles and outdated regulations.
  • Delegation decisions were shaped by cultural norms, role-based appropriateness, and everyday rhythms of spatial and temporal coordination.
• Advantage over baselines:
  • Challenges the dominant narrative of digital engagement as individual autonomy, highlighting the critical role of social and institutional support.
  • Expands the scope of digital inclusion to encompass relational and infrastructural practices.
• Experiments / evaluation:
  • Empirical study in Shantou, China, leveraging interviews with older adults and service providers to map digital engagement practices and support networks.
  • Focused on digital public services, excluding recreational and social uses.
• Limitations and future work:
  • Sample biased toward socially connected older adults in a specific urban context, limiting generalisability.
  • Does not capture experiences of socially isolated or marginalised older adults.
  • Future research should explore digital participation in contexts with weaker social infrastructure and examine the prevalence of collaborative roles on a larger scale.

Summary

This study examines how older adults in Shantou, China, sustain digital engagement with public services through human infrastructure, encompassing social networks and institutional support. It identifies nine collaborative roles and introduces the concept of anticipatory human infrastructure, highlighting forward-looking practices to prepare for system breakdowns. The findings challenge the individualistic framing of digital engagement, proposing design principles that support relational fit and neighbourhood-based delegation hubs. While the study focuses on a socially connected sample, its insights into the relational and infrastructural dimensions of digital welfare offer valuable directions for inclusive design and policy.