The internet is an indispensable aspect of modern society. It facilitates long distance communication, access to information, health care interventions, as well as multiple opportunities for social participation. Despite increasing pervasiveness of this technology, persistent inequalities exist in who has access to the internet. In particular, older adults lag behind in having internet access, thus putting them at risk for social exclusion. In order to gain a better understanding about the determinants of this grey digital divide, the current study contrasts influencing factors of internet access, comparing samples from 2002 to 2014 across age groups (40 to 54 years, 55 to 69 years and 70 to 85 years) using data from the German Ageing Survey (DEAS). Logistic regression confirmed that the likelihood of having internet access was lower with higher age at both time points. However, the percentages of people with internet access grew primarily in the middle and older age groups between 2002 and 2014. Furthermore, being male and having a higher education were both associated with greater odds of internet access. However, gender and education differences in internet access were significantly less pronounced in 2014 in contrast to 2002. Finally, both greater income and cognitive ability were associated with greater odds of internet access, while providing care for a grandchild was significantly associated with internet access only among the oldest age group. In an attempt towards bridging the grey digital divide, the current study serves as a basis for identifying groups mostly affected by this increasingly important form of social inequality.

中文翻译：

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努力弥合灰色数字鸿沟：2002年至2014年德国互联网访问的变化及其预测因素。

互联网是现代社会不可或缺的一部分。它促进了远程沟通，信息的获取，医疗保健干预措施以及社会参与的多种机会。尽管这项技术的普及程度越来越高，但是谁可以访问互联网仍然存在不平等现象。特别是，老年人在互联网访问方面滞后，从而使他们面临被社会排斥的风险。为了更好地了解此灰色数字鸿沟的决定因素，本研究对比了互联网访问的影响因素，使用德国老龄化调查（DEAS）的数据比较了2002年至2014年各个年龄段（40至54岁，55至69岁和70至85岁）的样本。Logistic回归证实，在两个时间点，随着年龄的增长，互联网访问的可能性降低。但是，在2002年至2014年之间，能够上网的人的百分比主要在中老年人群中增长。此外，男性和受过高等教育的人上网的几率都更高。但是，与2002年相比，2014年互联网访问中的性别和教育差异明显不足。最后，收入和认知能力的提高都与互联网访问几率相关，仅在年龄最大的年龄组中，为孙子提供照顾才与互联网访问显着相关。为了弥合灰色数字鸿沟，当前的研究为确定受这一日益重要的社会不平等形式影响最大的群体提供了基础。