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老年数字鸿沟治理的政策工具逻辑与优化研究

A Study on the Logic and Optimization of Policy Tools for Addressing the Digital Divide Among the Elderly

李佳新

Progress in Social Sciences / 2026,8(5): 423-430 / 2026-05-28 5 2

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• Information:

  南京工业大学，南京

• Keywords:
  Digital divide among the elderly; Policy tools; Digital governance; Age-friendly design; Silver economy
  老年数字鸿沟; 政策工具; 数字治理; 适老化; 银发经济
• Abstract: Against the backdrop of the deepening overlap between population aging and digital transformation, the digital divide among the elderly has become a critical issue affecting the equitable provision of public services and the development of social inclusion. Drawing on policy instrument theory, this study constructs a three-dimensional analytical framework comprising “policy instruments—stakeholders—policy objectives.” It selects 15 relevant policy documents issued at the central government level between 2020 and 2025 and employs NVivo 15 to conduct coding analysis of the policy texts. The study finds that current governance of the digital divide among the elderly exhibits a structural characteristic dominated by environmental tools, supported by supply-side tools, and relatively lacking in demand-side tools. Government departments play a dominant role in policy formulation and implementation, while the participation of the elderly and their families remains low. Policy objectives are primarily focused on basic service guarantees and digital competency enhancement, with insufficient attention paid to fostering the silver economy and building market mechanisms. Overall, the current governance system is strongly administratively driven and still exhibits significant shortcomings in terms of multi-stakeholder collaboration, demand-side incentives, and the establishment of long-term market mechanisms. Based on these findings, this study proposes pathways to optimize the structure of policy tools, improve mechanisms for multi-stakeholder collaboration, and strengthen policy support for the silver economy, with the aim of shifting the governance of the digital divide among the elderly from a model focused on basic safeguards to one focused on development and empowerment. 在人口老龄化与数字化转型深度叠加背景下，老年群体数字鸿沟问题已成为影响公共服务均等化与社会包容发展的重要议题。本文基于政策工具理论，构建“政策工具—利益相关者—政策目标”三维分析框架，选取2020—2025年中央层面15份相关政策文件，运用NVivo15对政策文本进行编码分析。研究发现当前老年数字鸿沟治理呈现以环境型工具为主导、供给型工具为支撑、需求型工具相对不足的结构特征；政府部门在政策制定与实施中占据主导地位，而老年群体及其家庭参与度较低；政策目标主要集中于基本服务保障与数字能力提升，对银发经济培育和市场机制建设关注不足。总体来看，现阶段治理体系具有较强的行政驱动特征，在多元主体协同、需求侧激励与长效市场机制构建方面仍存在明显短板。基于此，提出优化政策工具结构、完善多元协同参与机制、强化银发经济政策支持等路径，以推动老年数字鸿沟治理由基础保障型向发展赋能型转变。
• DOI: 10.35534/pss.0805074 (registering DOI)
• Cite: 李佳新．老年数字鸿沟治理的政策工具逻辑与优化研究［J］．社会科学进展，2026，8（5）：423-430.