Aging Population and Bridging the Digital Divide

As digital services expand, ensuring older adults’ inclusion is critical to every nation. In Qatar, older adults face persistent barriers to mobile app use, including small text, confusing navigation, poor Arabic localization, and emotional obstacles like fear of mistakes and reliance on family support. This study uses a mixed methods approach. It combines interviews and a questionnaire to explore attitudes, anxiety, and mobile use patterns among older adults aged 50+ and younger users (18-30 years). This is complemented by audits of two key mobile applications for WCAG standards compliance, specifically screen reader support, text resizing, navigation orientation, and visual contrast. Findings reveal that technical flaws and emotional hesitation reinforce each other and worsen digital exclusion. Local cultural pride and multilingual challenges uniquely shape user experiences. The study recommends age-inclusive design, improved Arabic usability, emotional trust building, and stronger private sector accessibility standards.