3. Warm Technology: A Novel Perspective on Design for and with People Living with Dementia

Incidences of age-related diseases such as dementia are increasing. Attention is shifting to living well with dementia, and how non-pharmacological interventions such as technology can play an important role to support this. However, there are still many challenges ahead. Technology is often devised without a full consideration of the target user group, or a thorough understanding of the context in which it is to operate. Furthermore, technology presents endless possibilities that can guide or impact decisions users make. In this chapter we discuss five, so-called, technology temptations. These are habits that are assumed to occur in technology development. It suggests that technology is omnipresent, often screen-focused, equipped with sensors everywhere, presumes “natural” interaction works and is often over-integrated. To counteract these “temptations” we propose technology development that includes people with dementia in the process, is easy to use by them and takes their experience as leading. Warm Technology respects this particular user group and their specific needs for improving their well-being and quality of life. To showcase Warm Technology, we illustrate three cases. Especially for people living with dementia Warm Technology shows potential for a new chapter in technology design.