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• MAKG THE MOST OF SENR GAY DATG APPSSHARE MAKG THE MOST OF SENR GAY DATG APPS

MAKG THE MOST OF SENR GAY DATG APPSSHARE MAKG THE MOST OF SENR GAY DATG APPS

(Imakwi M Ise Gay). This study exam inty work among olr gay men relatn to Informatn and Communitn Technology (ICT). It draws on the notn of IT inty—the extent to which dividuals experience technology as tegral to their sense of selv—to explore how their homosexualy and advanced age shape their relatnships wh technology.

Applyg thematic analysis to 17 semi-stctured, -pth terviews wh gay male ers aged 66–81, we show that while homosexualy and technology enable and rerce one another, the relatnship between technology and advanced age n be better fed by alienatn and trangement. Consequently, we argue that technology nstut a crossroads at which the gay and elr inti tersect and lli. In this sense, technology is siar to other cultural nstcts, like sexualy, that challenge the merger of advanced age and homosexualy, renrg the olr gay inty almost impossible.

Inty llisn: olr gay men g technology. Rearch about agg LGBTQ+ people has proliferated over the past four s (Fredriksen-Goldsen & Mura, 2010), generally fueled by the assumptn that the merger of two margalized inti—gay and olr—produc unique life experienc stemmg om the “plex terplay of ageism and homophobia” (Kner, 2016, p. Efforts exerted to unrstand olr gays’ experienc and reali have rulted a rich body of knowledge, cludg numero books (Harley & Teaster, 2015; Kimmel, Rose, & David, 2006; Kner, 2016) and review articl (Choi & Meyer, 2016; Fenkl, 2012; Fredriksen-Goldsen & Mura, 2010).

Numero studi have monstrated the central role of ICT the rout of gay and olr people, separately (Marciano, 2014; Nimrod, 2017), ually potg out the ways the rpective margalized groups e technology to improve their liv. Although agg gays face unique challeng bee of the batn of their age and sexualy, the potential role of technology pg wh the challeng has ped scholarly attentn so far. G., Biggs, 1997; Cook, 2018) or examed how gay people, ually adolcents, negotiate their queer inti om a psychologil pot of view (Rt, 2003).

However, rearch about inty work among olr gays is rare and the studi available are limed spe (Rosenfeld, 1999 is a notable exceptn) study addrs the gaps by explorg the terplay among homosexualy, advanced age, and technology. It exam inty work among agg gay men and quir about inty negotiatn relatn to new technologi. Gay men and olr people’s offle and onle experienc.

Over the past 40 years, acceptance of gay people has creased steadily Wtern untri (Flor, 2019). Neverthels, gay men still experience excln, discrimatn, and unfair treatment leadg to negative mental health out (Katz-Wise & Hy, 2012; Meyer, 1995). In ntrast to such offle challeng, mediated onle environments are typilly easier to ntrol and manver and th experienced by gay men as safe plac to participate, explore and munite wh others (Lucero, 2017).

Compared to their younger unterparts, olr gay men’s experienc are more challengg, both offle and onle.

Few studi have refuted the prevalent stereotype of the lonely and miserable agg gay man (Berger, 1996; Kimmel, 1980), and even foced on succsful agg (Fredriksen-Goldsen & Mura, 2010). However, most studi still acknowledge the adverse ramifitns of the triple jeopardy of age (ageism), sexualy (homophobia) and the batn thereof (Grossman, D’Augelli, & Hershberger, 2000; Kimmel, 1978; Kner, 2016). This batn n be seen as cumulative disadvantage (Shiu, Mura, & Fredriksen-Goldsen, 2016), acrdg to which agg gay men are exposed to general ageism directed at olr people (Levy, 2001) while facg ageist stereotyp om wh the youth-oriented gay muny (Kimmel, 1978; Wahler & Gabbay, 1997), predomantly bee of their agg bodi and flawed masculi (Slev & Lneman, 2010).