[Purpose/significance] The digital transformation of healthcare services has exacerbated technological ad⁃aptation challenges among older adults. While existing studies emphasize age-related disparities in the digital divide,they neglect the interplay between biologically driven capability deprivation and techno-social factors. This study pro⁃poses the concept of“Age-Related Digital Dysfunction”(ARDD) and investigates its generative mechanisms to address theoretical gaps in understanding the“aging-technology antagonism”within digital inequality frameworks. [Method/process] Using a qualitative approach, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 38 older adults from five Chinese provinces/autonomous regions. Data focused on their experiences of digital barriers across healthcare workflows, along with their causal attributions and coping strategies. Thematic analysis and contextual interpretation were employed to identify ARDD’s manifestations and generative pathways. [Result/conclusion] The findings reveal
that ARDD manifests in three dimensions: operational dysfunction, informational dysfunction, and decision-making dysfunction. ARDD’s generative mechanism follows a“bio-techno-social”interactive model: age-related cognitive and physiological decline acts as a necessary precondition, while technology-exclusionary designs and deficiencies in social support systems jointly exacerbate systemic deprivation of capabilities. ARDD is thus defined as“a state of per⁃sistent capability deprivation wherein intrinsic functional decline due to aging, compounded by techno-social exclu⁃sion, impedes older adults’effective engagement with digital technologies in healthcare.”