2) Opinions of elderly to the factors that influenced the abandon of the use of the Internet
Most elderly who did not use the Internet stated that their main reason of not using the Internet was their physical condition problems such as their bad eyesight or some wished to take care more of their eyesight. This finding went well with Zhou (2011) who found out that the lacks of ability to see and to move have direct impact to the use of the computer. However, the health factor may concern with the elderly who had a health problem only while nowadays most elderly know and always take better care of their health than in the past. In terms of knowledge, skill and experience on the computer and the Internet usage, it was shown that elderly did not have enough knowledge, no skill and without any experience about the Internet and some did not know how to search for the information from a website. These findings went together with Mann and other (2005) and Pimpiko (2009) who stated that the reasons of not using the Internet for the elderly were because they had no understanding and no
necessity. Lavichant (2006) also mentioned that experience of using the Internet had direct affected to the use of the Internet. In attitude to technology perspective, some elderly had negative believes that using the Internet was such a waste of time activity and they had no trust in on-line security system. This finding went together with Ruangrat (2001); Kittirujirakul (2003), which illustrated that the attitude with the Internet and the understanding on how to use the computer and the Internet played the vital role toward the use of the Internet. Hasim and Salman (2009) also explained that the perception and recognition of the benefit from the Internet had a direct effect to the use of the Internet. Ferro, Helbig and Gil-Garcia (2011) found out that the basic IT literacy and a good attitude with the computer had a positive relationship with the access to the Internet. Therefore, it is very essential to inform and educate the elderly about the benefit of using the Internet because their positive understanding may motivate them to start using the Internet. In terms of economic and social factors; family members are playing an important part to encourage the elderly to start using the Internet. The elderly who have never used the Internet may have no confidence when using the Internet for the first time. Emotional supports with positive attitudes from their family members and relatives would greatly encourage them to get start with the Internet.Outcomes of this study only expressed the fundamental data in Thai elderly usage of the Internet while numbers of Thai elderly who are capable in using the Internet are rather lower than other age groups and there are not many changes in their Internet usage behaviors comparing to other age groups even though they have more free time than any age groups. In addition, there is still the inequity in terms of computer’s equipments to access to the Internet, the knowledge and the ability gaps are still wide. Because elderly have more limitation on the use of the Internet more than other age groups, have lesser chance to access to the Internet and IT technology is continuously developed and swiftly changed, it was very challenge to narrow down these gaps and solve these problems for Thai elderly in the future.