Frequent Internet Use Improves Mental Health in Older Adults

A University College London study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research found that more frequent Internet use improves the well-being of older adults, especially the more affluent and better educated, reports Medical Xpress . The researchers investigated the accounts of more than 9,000 people over 50 from 2012 to 2017. They observed a positive long-term effect of daily Internet use, while infrequent use was connected to declining life satisfaction among older people. Daily users experienced larger increases in life satisfaction scores than those who used the Internet weekly or never, and had the highest scores by the conclusion of the study. Yet mental well-being varied by Internet use type, the most common of which were "information access" and "communication," with 68 percent and 66 percent of participants reporting use of these two types, respectively. People who went online for communication and keeping in touch with others were more likely to report less depression and better life satisfaction than those who did not. However, those who went online for information access, specifically job-searching, had worse life satisfaction compared to those who did not. Subjects in the wealthiest quantile were most likely to go online daily, while those in the highest educational and occupational groups benefited more mentally from frequent use than those in the lowest groups.