Age Based Digital Divide in the City of Iasi

Information and communications technology (ICT) has been increasingly present in the last twenty years. While some societies or part of them quickly adapted and triggered the benefits of their use, others used the new technologies in a rather limited way. The term created to describe this new reality, the `digital divide', was used to describe the perceived gap between those who have access and skills to use ICT and those who have limited or no access due to various socioeconomic and/or geographical reasons. Facilitating each person to have access and skills to use ICT is seen to have many benefits both to individuals as well as to society. Older people represent a growing percentage of population in western societies. For third age people, being digitally included can be an opportunity to preserve their independence, their quality of life, and their connections with others. Age based digital divide is an issue that was never researched in Romania. The objectives of this paper are to present results of a survey carried in the city of Iasi, to describe the digital divide between different category of age, regarding ICT access, skills and behaviors, and to raise awareness of this phenomenon.