Smartphone Overuse in the Old Age: A Qualitative Exploration on Actual Smartphone Use and Perceptions Among Italian Older Heavy Users

This article investigates the phenomenon of smartphone overuse among a group of Italian older users. Drawing on the analysis of 20 qualitative interviews and smartphone log data of the same group, the article explores the actual use of smartphone in older people everyday life against their perceptions about permanent connection and digital overuse. The article concludes that, notwithstanding a limited use of smartphones, overuse is an important cultural topic in their narrations about everyday use of such a device. Specifically, interviewees feel trapped within unwanted forms of sociality (especially related messaging apps) that they perceive artificial and shallow. This condition leads participants to use smartphones as less as possible and only to accomplish practical and instrumental tasks. This article aims at contributing to studies on media ideologies, which are still limited regarding older people’s smartphone ideologies.