Among 2,284 Chinese adults aged 60+, higher Internet-use frequency showed small positive associations with leisure-time exercise and offline social interaction overall, but the exercise association was positive among non-rural respondents and near zero among rural respondents, while the rural-non-rural difference for offline social interaction was not statistically significant.
Internet-use frequency was weakly positively associated with leisure-time exercise among older adults in China after adjustment.
Internet-use frequency was weakly positively associated with offline social interaction with friends and neighbors overall.
Rural residence significantly moderated the association between Internet-use frequency and exercise, with a negative interaction.
The rural-non-rural interaction for offline social interaction was not statistically significant.
Associations between Internet-use frequency and specific measured offline activities varied by activity type and by residence.
The negative exercise interaction was retained in a weighted ordinal-logit sensitivity analysis, though with weaker evidence than in the linear model.
The cross-sectional, frequency-based design cannot establish causal pathways or explain the contextual rural-non-rural difference.
This study used 2023 national survey data from 2,284 Chinese adults aged 60 and older to ask whether people who use the Internet more often also exercise more in their leisure time and spend more time with friends and neighbors in person. Overall, more frequent Internet use was linked to slightly more exercise and slightly more offline social interaction, but the links were small. The pattern for exercise differed by where people lived. Among older adults in non-rural areas, more frequent Internet use was associated with more exercise. Among rural older adults, there was essentially no association. For in-person social interaction, the difference between rural and non-rural residents was not statistically clear. Links with individual offline activities also varied by activity and by residence. This research suggests that the connection between Internet use and an active later life may depend on local context, and that digital inclusion efforts may not have the same links to activity in all places. Because the data were collected at a single point in time and measured how often people used the Internet rather than how they used it, the study cannot show that Internet use causes more exercise or socializing, nor explain why rural and non-rural areas differ.
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Upload Your LabsXu Z, Lee D, Yan C. (2026). Internet-use frequency, leisure-time exercise, and offline social interaction among older adults in China: rural-non-rural differences.. Frontiers in public health. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1978975