Digital Citizenship in an Aging Society: Culture, Inclusion, and Public-Service Governance in Yogyakarta

This study examines how platform design, government arrangements, and Yogyakarta's cultural and social setting shape digital accessibility for older adults. It asks how documented inequalities in later-life connectivity, Javanese norms of respect and intergenerational support, and the institutional design of Jogja Smart Service (JSS) affect the conditions for equitable digital citizenship. A qualitative documentary case study was conducted using 23 case documents collected and checked between September and October 2026, including national and regional statistics, laws and presidential regulations, the JSS portal and terms of use, municipal communications and complaint data, and Yogyakarta demographic publications. The qualitative content analysis and pattern matching followed a conceptual framework linking five accessibility dimensions, six governance mechanisms, and a cross-cutting cultural-social dimension. National internet access among older adults rose from 26.42% in 2024 to 34.13% in 2025, but access remains uneven by age, disability, economic position, and residence. Yogyakarta is especially salient because the Special Region had the highest share of older adults in Indonesia in 2025 (17.83%). JSS is an integrated municipal platform that combines online and offline public-service functions and requires registration based on personal data. The case documents also show an active complaint channel within JSS. When assessed alongside research on Javanese aging, these features suggest that family and community assistance can enable access while also creating risks to autonomy, privacy, and the invisibility of non-users. Inclusive municipal digital government should treat cultural intelligibility, accessible design, assisted-channel continuity, privacy-safe support, and representation of diverse older adults as linked public-value obligations rather than separate technical concerns.