1. Emily Petty Dr. Kelly G. Odenweller
Uses and Gratifications, Attitudes, and Willingness to Learn Computer Mediated Communication
Emily Petty
Dr. Kelly G. Odenweller

2. Uses and Gratifications (and cmc)
Uses and Gratifications Theory
Computer-Mediated Communication
Affective
Cognitive
Personal Integrative
Social Integrative
Tension Free
Entertainment
Information Gathering
Sharing personal stories
Belonging to friendships/groups
Escape from reality
H1: Facebook users use Facebook to maintain relationships.
H2: Young adult Facebook users are more likely to use Facebook and social media for escapism than older adults are.
H3: Facebook users of all ages use the website as a news source.

3. Attitudes and CMC Problem: outdated studies
Older adults circa 2004: 46.4% avid Internet users (over 20 hours/week) (Eastman & Iyer, 2004)
Older adults 2015: positive attitude toward mobile phones/smart phones (Vincent & Lopes, 2015)
Attitude is a predictor of positive/negative response to social media (Ledbetter, A., Mazer, J., DeGroot, J., Meyer, K., Mao, Y., & Swafford, B. (2011)
H4: Participants who find more enjoyment from Facebook use will report more favorable attitudes toward the website.

4. Willingness to Learn and Cmc
Self confidence
Faith in one’s own ability to learn and use something new
Venturousness
Willingness to try something new
Obstacles to Learning
Websites constantly updating
New forms of CMC emerging
Not all updates work
H5: Participants’ willingness to learn will be positively connected to positive attitudes toward the Internet and technology.

5. The Method Online questionnaire 109 Participants
Uses and Gratifications Scale
27 Likert-type questions (Papacharissi & Mendelson, 2011; Papacharissi & Rubin, 2000)
Attitudes instrument
25 statement Likert-type scale (Papacharissi & Rubin, 2000)
Willingness to Learn
3 point Likert-type scale (Reynolds, 1974)
109 Participants
Active Facebook users
32 Male, 77 Female
Age: years-old

6. Results H1: Facebook users use Facebook to maintain relationships.
SUPPORTED (Social: M = 4.38, SD = .91; Affective: M = 4.87, SD = .94)
H2: Young adult Facebook users are more likely to use Facebook and social media for escapism than older adults are.
NOT SUPPORTED (t[25] = 1.73, p =.10)
H3: Facebook users of all ages use the website as a news source.
SUPPORTED (Cognitive: M = 4.35, SD = 1.09)
H4: Participants who find more enjoyment from Facebook use will report more favorable attitudes toward the website. SUPPORTED (Affective: r = .31, p < .01; Tension free: r = .32, p < .01)
H5: Participants’ willingness to learn will be positively connected to positive attitudes toward the Internet and technology.
NOT SUPPORTED (r = .12, p = .21)
SURPRISE FINDING: Negative relationship between age and number of social media sites used

7. Significance
Gap in research centered around older adults and computer-mediated communication
Younger people are more likely to use more than one social media site
Older adults and young adults use social media for the same purposes

8. Acknowledgements
Thanks to all the participants, without whom this study would not have been possible!
Thanks to the ISU Communications Faculty for the preparation and support for this capstone project!
Thank you to Professor Kelly Odenweller for all the knowledge and support throughout this project!

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