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New Media & Society
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Ethnographic Research on the Experience of Japanese Elderly People Online

Tomoko Kanayama

School of Telecommunications, Ohio University, USA

Elderly people in Japan are becoming part of virtual communities. This article explores the online experience of such people, how they interact with others and how they construct social support relationships via computer-mediated communication (CMC). This ethnographic research, through participant observation and in-depth interviews, reveals that these elderly people enjoy interaction in a variety of language forms, ranging from haiku to emoticons, by combining traditional text-based Japanese culture with a new virtual culture, despite the limitations of text-based communication. Also, both the immediacy and asynchrony of CMC helps them to construct real human relationships in the virtual community, including social connectedness to others as well as supportive and companionship relationships. The elderly people could create a sense of greater propinquity by sharing their old stories and memories.

Key Words: aging society • computer-mediated communication (CMC) • elderly people • social relationships • virtual community

New Media & Society, Vol. 5, No. 2, 267-288 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/1461444803005002007
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