Human Aspects of IT for the Aged Population. Technology and Society

Gender identities and roles do not stand alone but rather evolve while intersecting with other traits, namely age, resulting in cross and hybrid (gender and age) identities. Media are one of the pivotal formative spaces where audiences learn role models and the way they should express and behave: Therefore, media environments influence the way one perceives and understands age and gender identities as well as expresses them publicly. Media also promote (inter)generational contexts given that different age groups organize their technological experience in their own specific ways and interact with different other generations. This article explores how masculinities are represented in the digital realm, shedding light on intergenerational dynamics and collective hashtag narratives. Specifically, this article will analyse collective narratives on Instagram through a hashtag stream, focusing specifically on representations of masculinities and how different generations interact and represent how to be, behave and express as “a man”.

The paper discusses the concepts of ageism and media generations. The concept of media generations gains increased attention within media studies with the increase in rhythm of social changes driven at least partly by the development of communication and media technologies. The starting point here is that ageism is implied in the bulk of research on the generational differences in media use. Alternative approach is proposed in order to overcome ageism when analysing media use and its implications for the individuals of different age. The alternative is based on the concepts of media generations, generation units and media repertoires. Media repertories [1‐3] here serve as an indicator of media generation units on the societal level [4]. Such an approach allows for the shared intergenerational media practices, recognizing also intragenerational diversity and the contemporary complex high choce media environment. This approach is open for the application of the multi-method research strategies. Examples of the analysis of the media generation presented here are from the article by Antonija Čuvalo and Zrinjka Peruško [5] on media generations in Croatia and Dina Vozab’s [6]. The main argument of this article is that the practice-based definition of media generation units through their media repertoire is more useful than dividing the generations by the decade of birth.

The present research focuses on the problems connected to digital literacy for the elderly and on moments of intergenerational learning. The paper presents the main results of an ethnographic research carried out for a course on the risks related to the unintentional use of ICTs. The course took place in March 2019, involving 60 seniors as attendees and 25 students from a secondary school in a small town in the north of Italy as lecturers. The research seems to remark the importance of the context where the encounters between younger and older people take place. Overall, our observations do not indicate that intergenerational learning is useless per se, nor they suggest that it is not successful at all. The joining of different generations always raises symbolic challenges in terms of social recognition. What appears clear from our observations is that placing an intergenerational training in a classroom is not sufficient in itself to transform young students in teachers. It neither puts older people in the correct disposition to feel like students again.

The aim of this paper is to analyse a new phenomenon that has emerged in the fashion system: the advent of female fashion influencers over 70. To outline all the novelties this brings with it, we produced a comparison between elderly and young fashion influencers along the evolution of the fashion system in the last decade. We considered both the first wave of fashion blogging (2012‒15) populated by young fashion bloggers and the second wave (2015‒19) in which we considered especially elderly fashion influencers. At the operational level, we selected the four fashion bloggers who were most followed on Facebook in 2011 in Italy: Chiara Ferragni (theblondesalad.​com), Veronica Ferraro (thefashionfruit.​com), Nicoletta Reggio (scentofobsession​.​com), and Irene Colzi (ireneccloset.​com). Regarding old women, in 2019 we selected the top 20 elderly influencers over 70, identified using Instagram’s search feature to detect age-related trends (i.e., using hashtags such as #over70 or #advancedstyle). While the four young fashion influencers are Italian, for the older fashion influencers we needed to select English-speaking women from across the globe, as this phenomenon is still just beginning in Italy. We applied qualitative and quantitative methods to capture bloggers’ online strategies and activities for two weeks at both the discursive and visual levels. The results show that while young fashion influencers have been incorporated into the fashion system, fashion influencers over 70 are still producing an important discourse for women, the elderly, and the whole society, although the initial attempts on the part of fashion houses to colonize them are emerging.

The purpose of the article is to assess the characteristics of the actual dataset obtained in an online-based research project interested in the digitization of later life in four countries by comparing it to the planned sample. It aims is to make visible the consequences of usual constraints –technical or not, and common uncritical assumptions to contribute to fighting unnoticed forms of ageism in the area. Compared to the online adult population, the collected sample shows imbalances that must be taken into account in the analysis of the results: there are more men than women, they are younger and better educated than the average online population. The characteristics of the individuals who effectively participated in the research project reflect the existing digital divide, which remains of particular relevance among the older age groups of the population. We do argue that empirical research on digital practices, being it conducted through online channels or not, must clearly state the age range of the sample and acknowledge the limitations in reaching the older old. It is critical to follow such a strategy to avoid generalizations that, in fact, disregard the older old and, therefore, contribute to reinforce ageism.

Social media are increasingly being used by young and old as a source of information. Fake news is also on the rise. The role played by age in the consumption of fake news on social media, however, is unclear. This paper explores the generational differences in the consumption of fake news, first by discussing previous empirical studies in this field and then on the basis of an empirical study carried out between the beginning of February 2018 and the end of June of 2018. In that empirical study, 14 political fake news articles (e.g., relating to Brexit and Donald Trump) were disseminated in the form of advertisements on Facebook. User interaction with the fake content was tracked in order to analyze the number of users in the age groups 13–17, 18–24, 25–34, 35–44, 45–54, 55–64, 65+. The results of the empirical study show that the articles had a higher reach amongst the older age groups, as well as that many people likely took the headlines at face value without clicking on the link. The number of emotional responses posted by the pro-Brexit and pro-Trump groups was greater than those posted by the pro-remain and anti-Trump groups. All of the posts were permitted to run as advertisements on Facebook despite Facebook’s efforts to limit the spread of fake news on their platform. In the final section, conclusions are drawn, limitations described and implications for future research are outlined.

Media and social media perform a pivotal role in the construction of social reality and shared meaning. As social representations, gender and age identities are included in those dynamics, per se and interacting with each other. This article aims to analyse the complexity, non-linearity and hybridity of representations of men and age within today’s digital realm. Stemming from an intersectional and feminist approach, this article explores how Twitter users represent older men in their posts, assessing whether these representations promote or hinder respectful ageing relationships and gender equality. How do Portuguese-speaking online users’ representations of men and masculinities interact with age and ageism? To put the analysis forward, data were extracted from Twitter and analysed through quantitative and qualitative content analysis. Data showed that intersection between masculinities and age among Portuguese speaking twitter users is low concerning the number of times that “men” and “old” are used in the same tweet text. However, data also showed that when patriarchal discourses intersect with ageism, they tend to perpetuate stereotypes, hindering egalitarian relationships concerning age and gender.

Since their origins, social media have been used by people belonging to different generations. The paper will describe how different generations use social media and is based on a review of literature and research projects. Observing social media users from a generational point of view allows to understand the different imaginations, interpretations of the platforms that each generation has developed and which often translate into different uses and processes of mutual adaptation. Furthermore, the generational post of view allows to understand how social media are used as a stage on which different generational identities are expressed and challenged through new forms of generational narratives. Narratives that allow generations to co-built each other through mutual representations.

Information and communication technologies (ICT) are shaping the world we live, collecting evermore user data. This development does not stop when it comes older adults, who often feel uncertainty and discomfort when using digital technology, although ICT could promote active aging and independence if done right. In this paper, the results of two workshops are presented which analyse and promote solutions to the problems and fears regarding Social Network Sites. We could show that lack of knowledge, especially regarding technical terms, fear regarding data privacy and uncertainty regarding computer usage were main hurdles to technology adoption. The results were used to develop a prototype which received high UEQ scores among older adults. The evaluation demonstrated that small interface changes can make a great difference in a system’s perception, that benefits of use could best be provided by using actual examples and revealed a dilemma in need for data. Furthermore, we found that older adults are suspicious when providing data but like the personalization they get, when exposing them.

With the gradual deepening of the aging degree, older adults’ loneliness seriously affects their physical and mental health. Social media as the main source of online social networking that can compensate for social impoverishment, hence have the great enthusiasm for older adults. However, relevant research on the influence of older adults’ loneliness is not thorough enough, especially in the Chinese background. Therefore, this study selects the representative social media-WeChat, to explore its influence on older adults’ loneliness. Firstly, we put forward hypotheses and models by reviewing existing researches. Then use questionnaire survey to obtain relevant data. Through stratified regression, the result shows that: (1) compared with users who do not use WeChat, WeChat use can alleviate loneliness. (2) We did not find a direct connection between the regular use of WeChat and older adults’ loneliness, but we found that when the older adults are good at self-disclosure in WeChat, regular use of WeChat can alleviate loneliness. This study can help us better understand the impact of social media on older adults’ loneliness, and guide relevant institutions to intervene and regulate loneliness for older adults in practice.

Selfie is gaining popularity among the senior citizens, but for them using the “beauty” function is not very friendly. In this research, we intended to figure out the facial feature about what senior people care most and to build a prototype for the beautification application. This paper presents two studies: an online survey about senior citizens’ behavior on taking photos and a qualitative study on senior citizens’ aesthetics preference of faces. By analyzing the data we collected from the studies above, we find how the elderly think and behave are quite different from the traditional assumption. A simple beautification system is built based on the style GAN (Generative Adversarial Network) algorithm according to our conclusions. These results may provide a reference for future designs for beautification products.

This study is focused on indicators of participation and favourable perception about life in women over 50 years, which are positively associated with technology dispositive aids, social images and identity. Furthermore, stereotypes and image of older women are concepts more negative for older women in comparison to older men. This includes the idea of how technology and cyber-technology have some impact on the positive mobility of older women related to aspects such as participation, perception of life and social and self-perceived image. This chapter aims to explore such dimension in Spain. In addition, the chapter refers to the use of technological devices for functional support (e.g. Tele-care and alarm devices, electric wheelchairs, buggies and scooters). In any case, the main use of devices could be explained because older women manifest a greater need for them and also because they have vital positive attitude and perceptions towards an “ikigai” (oriental concept referring to these concepts) more positive to address the problems. All of this justifies the unmet demand for technology and devices used to support older people, particularly women. This mixed picture also shows the need to improve the social image and further research (from a gender, tecno-feminist and socio-spatial perspectives) in the applicability of systems that seek greater functional mobility of a more active aging, better images and an improvement in the quality of life and a reduction of the digital divide for older women.

The discussion of the digital divide and digital inclusion has extended to older adults. Although knowledge on the digital divide and digital inclusion among native older adults has increased substantially, little is known about the situations of older immigrants in relation to the digital divide. This paper employed the scoping review approach to map the situations and research methods of the digital divide among older immigrants from recent empirical studies. The initial search identified 997 articles, of which 13 articles were selected for this review. The results showed that socioeconomic status, language proficiency, degree of acculturation, level of education, and digital literacy are the most common factors leading to the disparities between native older adults and older immigrants. Although the results showed a narrowing gap as concerns access to the Internet, interventions are needed to reduce the divide among individuals of different ethnicities due to disparities in digital skills and knowledge. The included studies applied quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method approaches. The homogeneity of the findings of some included studies implied the need to develop more methods and models to study the digital divide among older immigrants. This review suggested that future research incorporate ethnic characteristics in the research design to provide in-depth knowledge about the ethnic group. This knowledge could potentially be utilized for future interventions aimed at narrowing the remaining gap of the digital divide.

We do not yet know how the robotization of eldercare will unfold, but one thing is clear: technology mediates human practices and experiences [1]. As such, care robots will co-shape the actions of care givers and older people and influence the perceptions and experiences of old age. The robotization of eldercare means that it is essential for developers, policy makers, and researchers to become increasingly aware of the intertwined and implicit expectations that older people impose on care robots. This paper both zooms in towards older people’s individual expectations and zooms out towards expectation configurations at a group level and the expectation imagery of care robots in future eldercare.

Older people and specifically women at retirement age are typically not associated with technological competence. However, some of them are avid users and little is known about the ways they incorporate technical devices in their everyday life. In this study, we depict how women’s relationship and family status at retirement age have an influence on their technology usage. Having interviewed women between 65 and 75 years old, we describe three types of lifestyles where our analysis follows the women’s approach to technical devices. The ‘GrandMother’ focusses on her family and local community, the ‘Half Couple’ emphasizes her husband and marriage and the ‘Independent’ concentrates on herself. Generally, the smart phone is used as an extension of their personal lifestyle and routines of everyday life: the GrandMothers direct their digital technology usage inwards, the Independents outwards and the Half Couples are split between those who use it sideways or not at all. For the GrandMothers, their technical devices are a facilitator of their daily duties and existing ties whereas the Independents have a strong self-motivated interest to use social media as an entertainment platform and as an extension of their interests. For the Half Couples, their mobile phones are either nice to have or simply unnecessary. Our study adds to the limited literature on older women’s technology usage and presents an understanding of how technologies are incorporated in a certain life phase.

The prevalence of visual impairment increases with age and has become a big threat that causes elders’ depression and social isolation. While digital technology is believed to be a solution for social inclusion, the challenge is that visually impaired elders (VIEs hereafter) lack the visual capability to use digital products. Thanks to the innovation of AI voice technology, VIEs are able to connect to the digital world with their speaking and hearing functions. Drawing on the framework of technology affordance, this paper is among the first to examine the effect of AI voice technology on VIEs’ psychological well-being. Our findings show that VIEs recognize functional affordance (i.e., human-likeness, interactivity, personalization and sourceness) and emotional attachment (i.e., flow state, intimacy, companionship, and trust) in their using of AI voice technology. Results also reveal a virtuous cycle between functional affordance and emotional attachment. More importantly, functional affordance and emotional attachment are found to positively influence VIEs’ psychological well-being. The findings not only have theoretical implications but inform the design of AI voice technology to tailor VIEs’ needs.

The internet and mobile phones have become the main communication tools of modern people. Users often unconsciously develop the habit of staring at their mobile phones and processing and focusing on a large number of messages at any given time. This habit causes a lot of anxiety for users. This study explores the causes of technology addiction and technology anxiety through the literature in an attempt to understand the main methods of relieving technology addiction and anxiety. The research uses online surveys to investigate the mobile phone usage behavior of users of different ages and genders, and its correlation to technology anxiety. The survey respondents total 204 smartphone users, ages ranging from 18 to 60 years old. We discovered the main time periods of smartphone use, the purpose of smartphone use, and the tendencies of mobile phone addiction and anxiety. Comparing the causes of mobile phone usage anxiety between different genders and age groups, we find the following: (1) The test subjects’ demand for secondary functions of mobile phones have exceeded the demand for basic call functions. Mobile phones have already become the primary tool for socializing and gathering information from the outside world; (2) There is a difference in technology anxiety among different age; groups: those 31 to 40 years old, show the strongest levels of addiction; those 21 to 30 years old, display the highest levels of anxiety; (3) Women’s addiction awareness and feelings of anxiety are greater than men’s; (4) Users unaware of technology anxiety will underestimate their sense of dependence on mobile phones.

The results of this research can provide researchers with an understanding of the technology dependence levels of users of different ages and genders, including their smart phone usage habits, and the main causes of anxiety. Referencing this information can assist in the development of countermeasures aimed at alleviating the effects of technology related anxiety.

Older adults use the Internet for a broad range of purposes including interpersonal communication, errands, and leisure. Although barriers towards physical access to the digital world have diminished, relevant subgroups of older adults still lack the digital skills required for diverse online activities. While understanding this second-level digital divide is an active field of research, the results of previous studies are less conclusive in the factors that explain whether one belongs to the group of users or nonusers. We posit that the accumulation of knowledge from empirical quantitative studies is undermined by considerable heterogeneity in the reporting of logistic regression analysis, for which we provide evidence in the extant literature. We then explore the usefulness of socio-demographic characteristics in explaining various online activities. Our results (1) highlight different roles of education and living arrangement in explaining informational, social, and instrumental online activities, and (2) underscore the need to provide contextualized information when conducting logistic regression analysis. Taken together, our findings contribute to understanding differentiated online activities in older adults and provide methodological guidance for future studies.

A series of pilots and studies of Mobility-as-a-Service have launched out in recent years, but services are generally recognized as still at the early stage of development, whether in terms of its concept, the level of urban construction and the acceptance of travellers. According to the earlier explorative study of MaaS in a workshop in the UK, the result referred to the lack of consensus among stakeholders and the mismatch of value propositions between service providers and users. This leads to the early market not fully considering the requirements of the different group of travellers, especially for the older people. Therefore, this study reviewed previous literature and summarized the logic relation of the relevant factors, in order to provide the evidence for future sustainable development of MaaS on the aspect of increasing older travellers’ social participation.

Mobility and migration processes through transnational borders outline the new dimensions of the modern world. The countless possibilities to work and study abroad are among the main reasons for the younger generations in Bulgaria to leave their country and their family, relatives and friends. The newly formed virtual family form composed of a married or unmarried couple, a family with children (narrowly) and their ancestors (broadly) where single, several or all members of the family unit do not live in the same household faces immense challenges.

Despite the contemporary seamless and timely communication possibilities, the paper seeks to answer two research questions: Does the intergenerational divide deepen in the virtual family over time? How the communication is changing in the virtual family compared with the traditional one? Thus the aim of the study is to measure the generational divide in the communications between virtual and traditional families. A comparative analysis of in-depth face-to-face and Skype interviews with respondents from virtual and traditional families has been conducted. The results and conclusions indicate that the different daily routine and lifestyle of the family members could alienate them. Intergenerational divide between younger and older members is detected both in virtual and traditional family. This reduces the effectiveness of the interactive communication between the family members, especially with regard to older people when they live apart.

The addiction to technology of older persons is an emerging field, because the literature tends to focus only on the benefits of the use of technology in this age group. Along with this, there is interest in how participation improves the quality of life of older persons. In this context, the present study aims to examine the association between the level of participation of older individuals and their addictive behaviors to Internet, including lack of control and emotional deregulation. All this, considering the social influence for the use of the Internet as a mediator of this relationship. For this, 151 older Internet users answered a set of questions about internet addiction, level of participation, and social influence for the use of technology. A structural equation modeling was carried out to evaluate the mediation model. The results show that the level of participation is indirectly associated with the two dimensions of Internet addiction, via the social influence that promotes the use of technology. This has important implications in the development of interventions that encourage Internet use in older persons, decreasing addictive behaviors that could emerge as the use of technology becomes more common.

This article investigates social inclusion from the perspective of smart mobility and transport, which are core aspects of smart city policy. More specifically, it discusses older people’s mobility practice in smart city environments as a phenomenon at the intersection of age, digital ICT and data. Drawing on mobility studies, communications and critical data studies the article uses the following questions to frame its analysis of inclusive smart transport services from the perspective of old and advanced age: How transport (and) mobility practices interact with mobile ICT use in smart cities? What do we know about the transport mobilities of older people? What do we know about the mobile media and ICT practices of older people? After introducing the concepts of smart city and smart mobility the article discusses these questions through literature review, secondary data, and examples from public transportation services in the city of London, one of Europe’s principal ‘smart’ cities. The analysis highlights age-bias in inherited transport system, gaps in available data about older people’s mobility practices and their media and ICT use, and opportunities for more inclusive (and sustainable) smart transport.

Automated technology may help older adults maintain an independent lifestyle (e.g., Mynatt et al. 2004; Labonnote and Høyland 2017). For example, domestic robots could help older adults remain in their homes longer, or cars with semi-autonomous safety technology can help older adults maintain their ability to drive. However, as older adults interact with technology that is more automated (i.e., automation is higher in stage and degree), they may become more subject to the negative effects when that technology fails. This concept of reaping greater benefits of higher degrees of automation that is reliable but suffering catastrophic performance consequences when it is unreliable has been termed the lumberjack effect and has been well documented among younger adults (Endsley and Kiris 1995; Onnasch et al. 2013; Rovira et al. 2017). The cause of this effect is that frequent interaction with reliable, high level automation induces a complacency or disengagement with the task (becoming out of the loop). Thus, when that automation fails, the user has been out of the loop (Endsley and Kiris 1995) and is thus unprepared to resume the task. As older adults have reduced cognitive abilities, they may be even more subject to the lumberjack effect. The purpose of the current study was to examine the presence and magnitude of the lumberjack effect in older adults as it has not yet been documented in the literature. Older and younger adults interacted with various degrees of automation. We replicated the finding that performance was negatively affected on unreliable trials of automation compared to reliable trials for both age groups (i.e., the lumberjack effect). However, these effects did not appear to be more pronounced in older adults. These results are the first to show that the lumberjack effect previously observed in younger adults is equally pronounced in older adults. However, what aspect of aging cognition was the source of this similar lumberjack effect is still an empirical question.

The aims of this mixed-method study were to analyze: older adults’ computer proficiency in relation to intelligence, personality traits and attitudes towards computers (Study 1); intention to use online services in relation to attitudes towards computers (Study 2); enabling factors of using digital devices (Study 3). The goal of the overall study was to propose the intervention that would support older people as digital newcomers. The main findings were that: attitude towards computer was the strongest predictor of older adults’ computer proficiency (Study 1); perceived ease of use proved to be a significant predictor of intention to use electronic services (Study 2), and most important finding from the qualitative research was that family and friends, especially peers, were older adults’ most preferred source of support in acquiring new IT skills (Study 3). On the long run, advocating for involving older people in designing digital tools should be imperative. It is important to develop a self-sustainable program that would, at first, fully engage all the relevant stakeholders: municipality and social care officials, Red Cross professionals and volunteers, social clubs and spaces for seniors, IT and user experience experts, psychologists, producers and retailers of devices, family and friends. Brief focused train the trainer program based on the needs of older people would be the core of the intervention. Sustainability wise, based on identifying and supporting the most skilled ones, older people should be empowered to run the program themselves with stakeholders’ occasional support.

Older adults are one of the high-risk groups vulnerable to telecommunication fraud, but little is known about what strategies will be taken by them to fight telecommunication fraud and what the underlying rationales are behind their reactions. Therefore, this study examined it through three phases. In phase 1, sixty older adults participated in a face-to-face survey of possible influence of personality and cognition. Then, they judged the authenticity of messages they have read on a real phone and were interviewed. Phase 2 is an online questionnaire survey to identify two more factors to enrich the results of phase 1. Phase 3 is a text analysis of 120 supreme court verdicts. The results reveal individual differences in anti-fraud strategies and show that older adults adopted different strategies to address potential telecom fraud. Particularly, older adults with lower need for cognition (NFC) were more likely to adopt extremely conservative strategies.

Loneliness in advanced age has become one of the societal concerns considering its detrimental effects on physical and mental health of older people. Information and communication technologies show the potential to prevent or tackle loneliness and social isolation among older people. Given a percentage of the older population feeling lonely, loneliness in older age has been increasingly recognized as a stereotype about older people and ageing which shapes self-perceptions of ageing. This cross-sectional study aims to investigate the interaction between older people’s Internet use and the level of loneliness, as well as introduce the important role that self-perceptions of ageing may play in this association. The analyses were performed on data of community-dwelling older adults aged 65+ years from the German Ageing Survey. Findings from this study have shown that older people’s greater Internet use was significantly associated with a lower level of loneliness; meanwhile, positive self-perceptions of ageing were correlated with a lower degree of loneliness. Additionally, self-perceptions of ageing (in the aspect of personal competence) moderate the relationship between Internet use and loneliness among older people. This paper allows insight into the important moderating role of positive self-perceptions of ageing in the relationship between older people’s Internet use and the level of loneliness. This moderating effect hence contributes to the beneficial implications of frequent Internet use on preventing or reducing the level of loneliness. Given the global context of overwhelming facilitation of digital technologies across sectors and vulnerable social groups, it is of significance to empower older adults with negative self-perceptions of ageing to ensure they gain benefits from technological advances, as well as to challenge the prevalent stereotypes about older people and ageing in societies.