Interdependent Navigation and Pragmatic Disengagement: How Older Korean Immigrants Selectively Engage with Digital Technologies

Abstract

Older immigrant adults face unique barriers to digital participation, often framed as skill deficits. Through a community-based study with 22 older Korean immigrants in the greater New York area, we reframe these behaviors as active strategies. We identify pragmatic disengagement, where users selectively reject emotionally taxing or linguistically risky technologies, and interdependent navigation, where digital literacy operates as a distributed, relational resource rather than an individual skill. These practices reveal that non-use is often a culturally grounded form of "data refusal" shaped by values of dignity and family obligation. We contribute to CSCW by expanding theories of non-use beyond accessibility, offering design recommendations for "relational infrastructure" that supports dignity-preserving, collaborative engagement for aging immigrant populations.