Digital and Social Activeness of Urban Older Adults are Complementary

Digital and Social Activeness of Urban Older Adults are Complementary | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Digital and Social Activeness of Urban Older Adults are Complementary Nan Chen, Hao Xu This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5674149/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This study investigates the digital and social activeness of urban older adults in China, using a large and anonymized dataset of over one million mobile phone users from Xihu District, Hangzhou. The findings reveal a complementary relationship between digital and social engagement, challenging the assumption that increased digital activity substitutes traditional social interactions. However, significant gender and cohort disparities are identified: older women and senior cohorts (75+) demonstrate lower levels of digital activeness compared to their male and junior counterparts. The study highlights the rapid post-pandemic increase in digital engagement among older adults, with mobile applications becoming integral to their daily lives. Policy implications include the need for targeted interventions to address digital inequalities, particularly for older women and senior cohorts, to foster active and healthy aging. The research underscores the importance of leveraging digital technology to enhance social inclusion and improve the overall well-being of aging populations. Scientific community and society/Social sciences Health sciences/Medical research Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5674149","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":402117205,"identity":"2b3c8a9c-712d-4504-a9dc-0d7a3c1e95d6","order_by":0,"name":"Nan Chen","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA1klEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFACHiCuALPYGBsYGICYh5kILWdI1sLYRooWc/azBx8XzquTY2A/Y/ZwBoON7IYDvIcN8Gmx7MlLNp657bAxA0+OueEGhjTjDQf4khPwaTG4wWMmzbvtQGKDBI+Z5AOGw4kbDvAYHyCgxfw375y6eqiW/0RpMWPmbWBOYABp2cBwAKwFv8PO5BhL8xw7bNjGk1YmOcMA6LHDPMZ4vW9w/IzhZ56aOnl+9sPbJHsq7GT7jvcYS+DTAgdsEBOAmFBEjoJRMApGwSggDACehUHDf9baHQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0014-4461","institution":"The Chinese University of Hong Kong","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Nan","middleName":"","lastName":"Chen","suffix":""},{"id":402117206,"identity":"3efdff32-d322-4ece-a8ca-b5c4dc269285","order_by":1,"name":"Hao Xu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Hao","middleName":"","lastName":"Xu","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-12-19 06:45:07","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5674149/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5674149/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":79321035,"identity":"c3ad854d-dffa-4208-a343-521a56029188","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-03-27 04:29:30","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1887262,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Article File","description":"","filename":"AgingandsocialinclusioninChina1strevision.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5674149/v1_covered_7b6f7dc4-d82a-40ce-8fc1-6ab89af73c84.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Digital and Social Activeness of Urban Older Adults are Complementary","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5674149/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5674149/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"This study investigates the digital and social activeness of urban older adults in China, using a large and anonymized dataset of over one million mobile phone users from Xihu District, Hangzhou. 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