Abstract
While there has been a great deal of research on younger people using Social Networking Sites (SNSs), there has been less work on older people and non-users. We present a mixed-methods design with a technology-acceptance survey and focus group interviews, to study older Norwegian non-users' perceptions of SNSs. Our study reveals that most non-users in our sample deliberately do not use SNSs. They perceive SNS communication as cold and narcissistic, and view the usefulness of SNSs to be low. This finding indicates a generational culture gap in how young versus older experience SNSs. Privacy and security concerns are also prevalent. Non-users, expressing an interest in SNSs, believe SNSs could increase contact with family and friends, but perceive lack of competence to be a barrier.
