Digital technology holds a promise to improve older adults’ well-being and promote ageing in place. However, there seems to be a discrepancy between digital technologies that are developed and what older adults actually want and need. Ageing is stereotypically framed as a problem needed to be fixed, and older adults are considered to be frail and incompetent. Not surprisingly, many of the technologies developed for the use of older adults focus on care. The exclusion of older adults from the research and design of digital technology is often based on such negative stereotypes. In this opinion article, we argue that the inclusion rather than exclusion of older adults in the design process and research of digital technology is essential if technology is to fulfill the promise of improving well-being. We emphasize why this is important while also providing guidelines, evidence from the literature, and examples on how to do so. We unequivocally state that designers and researchers should make every effort to ensure the involvement of older adults in the design process and research of digital technology. Based on this paper, we suggest that ageism in the design process of digital technology might play a role as a possible barrier of adopting technology.

https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/19/3718/pdf

Inclusion of Older Adults in the Research and Design of Digital Technology

In this article, we (1) examine the various forms of support required by older users (75+) of digital technology and (2) provide a concrete, everyday life rationale for why warm experts play such a...

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1461444820917353

Exploring heterogeneous ICT use among older adults: The warm experts’ perspective:

This study examines how low-income African-American older adults, one of the groups most vulnerable to misinformation online, assess the credibility of online information. In examining this, we con...

Vulnerable populations and misinformation: A mixed-methods approach to underserved older adults’ online information assessment:

There is a growing literature on teenage and young adult users’ attitudes toward and concerns about online privacy, yet little is known about older adults and their unique experiences. As older adu...

Privacy Attitudes and Concerns in the Digital Lives of Older Adults: Westin’s Privacy Attitude Typology Revisited:

The platform economy is rapidly transforming the dynamics of the labor market. Optimists argue platform work functions as a social equalizer, opening opportunities for additional earnings for those...

/pdf/the-winners-and-the-losers-of-the-platform-economy-who-28lehwr1ua.pdf

The winners and the losers of the platform economy: who participates?

Although research has demonstrated a grey divide where older adults are less involved and skilled with digital media than younger adults, by treating them as a homogenous group, it has overlooked d...

Carly Williams

Papers

Dividing the Grey Divide: Deconstructing Myths About Older Adults’ Online Activities, Skills, and Attitudes: