In the social context of population aging and digitization, the rural elderly face a more prominent digital divide due to the reality of urban-rural dual structure. Bridging this gap has become an urgent issue that needs to be addressed.This paper constructs a theoretical framework of “individual action-social structure- structural duality” based on structural theory to analyze the formation mechanism of the digital divide among rural elderly.The study finds that this divide is caused by regionalized routinization of rural elderly actions,lack of social resources and rules,and their interactions with each other.Therefore,bridging this gap requires intervention at multiple levels,including rural elderly individuals,digital social contexts, and their interactions;constructing a more reasonable structural relationship can help bridge this digital divide.