“It doesn't make my life easier, doesn't make it harder”: Human infrastructures shaping older adults' engagement with digital welfare systems

The rapid digitalisation of public services has raised concerns about the exclusion of older adults. To examine this issue, we conducted a qualitative study in Shantou, China, exploring how older adults sustained participation in digital welfare. Despite limited direct interaction with digital systems, they wove digital engagement into daily life by mobilising personal, social, community, and institutional networks. By foregrounding this often-hidden human infrastructural labour, we expand understandings of what constitutes the “success” of digital welfare and the scope of digital engagement in later life. Building on these insights, we propose design recommendations for sociotechnical conditions that better support relational arrangements, making delegation smoother, lighter, and more legitimate. Finally, we introduce the notion of anticipatory infrastructure to capture how older adults prepare for inevitable breakdowns. The study contributes to HCI debates on inclusion by centring equity and collective capacities in sustainable digital welfare.