New Communication Technology and the Elderly: A Study on the Continuous Use of the Extreme Edition APP for Middle-Aged and Senior Citizens

Rapidly changing digital technologies are reconfiguring the way human society lives, indicating that more and more middle-aged and older adults will lead a digital life in the future. Whether digital technology for today can effectively improve the quality of digital life of this cohort is the focus of this study. This study proposed a "cognitive-emotional-behavioral" model and situated the use of the Extreme Edition App as a cross-sectional research object. The study also explored the relationship between middle-aged and older adults' perceptions of the benefits of cash subsidies, the pleasure and worry generated by the use of the app, and their continued use of the app. It has become a fact that human beings are walking side by side with digital technology; digital technology still moves forward and upward. Thus, it is forward-looking to pay attention to the digital life adaptation of the current middle-aged and older groups. A total of 1200 valid questionnaires were obtained, and regression analysis showed that (1) the more comprehensive and in-depth the cohort's knowledge of the benefits of cash subsidies is, and the more sustainable their continuous use of the Extreme Edition App is, the more pleasure they experience, and the less worry they feel during its use. (2) The more pleasure middle-aged and older adults feel while using the Extreme Edition App, the more likely they are to continue using it. Conversely, the more worry they feel, the less likely they are to maintain its use. (3) Emotions generated during the use of the Extreme Edition App mediate the relationship between this cohort's perceptions of cash subsidy benefits and their continued-use behavior.