When older adults are left offline, health and quality of life suffer

A review links limited access to digital tools and services with poorer health outcomes and reduced access to health resources in later life.

Editorial illustration — not from the study.

As healthcare systems move more services online, older adults who lack internet access, digital skills or suitable support may have less access to health-related resources. The review links this exclusion with delays in prevention and treatment, poorer quality of life and adverse health outcomes.

The authors describe digital exclusion as part of wider structural inequities rather than only a technology problem. They call for coordinated responses that include affordable access, support for digital skills, age-friendly services and non-digital options for people who remain excluded.

How exclusion affects health

Across the published evidence reviewed, digital exclusion among adults aged 60 and older was associated with the convergence of socioeconomic disadvantage, health-related vulnerabilities and contextual barriers across three levels of the digital divide. These factors were linked with reduced access to health-related resources, poorer quality of life and adverse health outcomes in later life.

Why access matters

Healthcare is becoming increasingly digital, so difficulty accessing or using digital services can affect older adults’ ability to reach health information and resources. The findings suggest that improving digital access alone may not be enough: services also need to be affordable, easier for older adults to use and available through non-digital routes.

Evidence and caveats

This was a systematic review conducted under PRISMA guidelines, based on searches of five databases and major institutional sources through March 2025. It included studies of adults aged 60 and older that linked digital exclusion with health outcomes and explicitly considered socioeconomic factors. The abstract does not report the number of included studies, their individual designs or detailed limitations. Because the review describes associations, it does not by itself establish that digital exclusion caused the health outcomes.

EU carbon taxes were linked to lower energy intensity and higher human development

A quasi-experimental study of 24 European Union member states found that adopting carbon taxes was associated with lower energy intensity, greater renewable energy use and higher Human Development Index scores. The gains were strongest in countries that had maintained the policies for more than two decades.

7 hours ago·3 views

Society & Economics

Who asks the SEC for records may signal where a stock is headed

A study of Freedom of Information Act requests to the Securities and Exchange Commission finds that the type of requester is linked to different signals about a public company’s future stock returns. The analysis also finds evidence that institutional investors and short sellers trade on information obtained through these requests.

12 hours ago·2 views

Society & Economics

Digital markets widen Gond painting’s reach—but not equally for all artists

Gond painting has moved from household walls and floors into exhibitions, digital marketplaces and online platforms. Based on 96 interviews and qualitative fieldwork, researchers found that technology expands markets and strengthens the art form’s public status, but unequal access to digital resources continues to exclude some artists.

1 day ago·7 views