Connection to the world – Older Afro-Brazilian quilombolas and their information and communication technologies
A. da Silva-Pinto & J. Doll
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AbstractThe use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has increased significantly in recent years. Thus, in today's world, social participation, whether in consumption, in governance, in access to information, or in social contacts, is strongly linked to the possibility of using ICTs and can represent a factor of social exclusion. In Brazil, internet access has increased, but excluded groups remain. Illiterate people remain scarcely present, despite having increased their participation on the internet from 20.7% in 2019 to 42.6% in 2023. Only 38.2% of older people accessed the internet in 2019, which increased to 57.5 %. Despite progress, more than 40% of people over 60 do not access the internet. Considerable progress can be seen in rural areas, where in 2019, only 61.1% accessed the internet, in 2023 there are already 83.3%, only slightly less than in urban areas with 89.7% in 2023. In relation to race, the differences were not strong and an increase was noted in each ethnic group, in white people from 79.9% to 89.4% between 2019 and 2023, in black people from 76.8% to 87.7% (all data from the Regional Center of Studies for the Development of the Information Society – CETIC, accessible at https://cetic.br). With these changes, arises the question, how this is concretely reflected for older people in a traditional quilombola community, a community formed by descendants of enslaved Afro-Brazilian people and generally living in poor health and social conditions (Costa et al., 2021). What are the means of communication used by older members of this community and what are the consequences of the use of ICTs for this population.Keywords: information and communication technologies, cell phone, older community memebers, traditional communities
A. da Silva-Pinto & J. Doll (2024). Connection to the world – Older Afro-Brazilian quilombolas and their information and communication technologies. Gerontechnology, 23(2), 1-1
https://doi.org/10.4017/gt.2024.23.s.913.opp