Digital Sustainability in an Aging Society: Reframing Smartphone Phubbing as Structural Compensation Among Urban Chinese Older Adults

Despite extensive research on smartphone phubbing among youth, its manifestation among older adults remains overlooked in digital sustainability frameworks. This study challenges pathological framings by examining phubbing as potential compensation for structural constraints in China’s urban aging context. Adopting a theoretical thematic analysis approach, we interviewed 24 urban Chinese older adults (aged 60–75, daily smartphone use >4 h) from April to September 2024. Data underwent three-stage NVivo coding, distilling 156 initial codes into 19 thematic categories and five analytical dimensions through iterative refinement and member checks. Analysis revealed smartphone phubbing as structured compensation driven by push factors (empty-nest loneliness, mandatory retirement, epistemic devaluation) and pull factors (affordance-need matching). Cultural capital stratified outcomes: high-capital users attributed difficulties to ageist design while low-capital users internalized failures. Recursive feedback loops transformed use into dependency traps with health and financial consequences. Extending Push–Pull–Mooring theory, we developed a Digital Compensation Framework identifying epistemic inequality as a third-order digital divide. By reframing phubbing as a structural issue and advocating interventions addressing institutional foundations through universal design and platform responsibility, the framework illuminates pathways toward sustainable digital aging and directly advances UN Sustainable Development Goals for health (3), industry (9), equality (10) and partnership (17).