WebSci'24: Keynote by Eszter Hargittai

Eszter Hargittai is Professor and holds the Chair of Internet Use and Society at the Department of Communication and Media Research of the University of Zurich (UZH). She is a Fellow of the International Communication Association and an External Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Princeton University and her BA in Sociology from Smith College. Prior to joining UZH, she was the Delaney Family Professor of Communication Studies at Northwestern University.
Adults 60 and over make up an increasing portion of the population yet they are often excluded from studies of Internet use. This talk draws on national survey data to show how older adults compare to younger age groups in their Internet uses and skills. Findings show that many older adults are more savvy and more active than popular rhetoric would suggest, including on social media where their engagement is sometimes close to those of younger cohorts. The talk highlights the importance of including a varied population group in studies that make generalizable claims.