老年群体数字生活的隐性不平等——基于短视频使用的质性研究

The Hidden Inequality in the Digital Life of the Elderly—A Qualitative Study Based on the Use of Short Videos

摘要: 本研究以“算法社会如何生产老年群体的新型不平等”为核心追问，以短视频使用为经验透镜，采用深度访谈等质性方法展开研究。研究发现，算法推荐系统通过三重机制完成了对老年人数字生活的隐性型构：在卷入层面，算法精准对接退休、独居、社交萎缩所生产的情感与时间填充需求，以商业逻辑补偿了原本应由社区、家庭和公共空间承载的情感供给；在感知层面，老年人普遍缺乏对算法运作的基本理解，将信息窄化体验为个性化服务，使结构性支配得以在主观感受中自然化；在抵抗层面，老年人的自我控制策略在算法召唤与情感依赖的双重拉扯下反复失效，根本困境在于个体意志与系统设计的结构性权力不对称。三重机制共同揭示：在数字融入的表象之下，一种以使用自主性丧失为核心的隐性不平等正在被日常化地生产与再生产。

Abstract: This study addresses the core question of “How does the algorithmic society generate emerging inequalities among the elderly?” Taking short video usage as an empirical lens, it adopts qualitative approaches including in-depth interviews for investigation. The research findings indicate that algorithmic recommendation systems implicitly shape the digital lives of the elderly through three mechanisms: At the engagement level, algorithms precisely target the emotional and time-filling needs arising from retirement, living alone, and social decline, replacing the emotional support originally borne by communities, families, and public spaces with a commercial logic. At the perception level, the elderly generally lack a fundamental understanding of algorithmic operations, perceiving information narrowing as personalized services, which naturalizes structural domination in their subjective experiences. At the resistance level, the self-control strategies of the elderly repeatedly fail under the dual pull of algorithmic enticement and emotional dependence, with the fundamental dilemma rooted in the structural power asymmetry between individual will and system design. These three mechanisms collectively reveal that beneath the surface of digital inclusion, a hidden inequality centered on the loss of autonomy in usage is being produced and reproduced in a normalized, daily manner.