The Elderlies that Embrace Technology

In the past, research consistently reflects that older adults have negative attitudes towards the use and adoption of technology. In the first blog entry I wrote, I discussed why elderlies really fear technology  that it could possibly be because there's a lack of human emotion and touch behind it. However, more research shows that this fear may not be as prevalent as the public believes. For example, in Older adults talk technology: Technology usage and attitudes, the authors conducted an experiment with focus groups that revealed that there are more positive attitudes towards technology than what previous research has shown. This discovery reveals that elderlies are beginning to understand the convenience and usefulness of this technology and the elderly population as a whole is shedding this prior negative attitude. This creates an outlet of technology acceptance that leads to a brighter future for technology in the lives of elderlies. What was even more surprising about this information was that an article by Venard stated that the over-50 age group is the fastest growing sector of technology consumers (2011). With this recognition that older adults are more willing to embrace technology, I believe that they need to utilize not just the physical technological objects such as computers, cellular phones, tablets, etc. but also the services that technology brings. In the article, Center for Technology and Aging Expert Panel Identifies How Older Americans Can Use Technology to Enhance Social Action, the author voices how older adults need to use technology to explore services such as social media platforms to spread important social messages. Older adults are very active in the political world; however, during a time in which even the political world is moving towards high use of social media platforms, they run the risk of falling behind once more. For example, Obama's campaign with heavy usage of viral video and social media platforms, such as Twitter, was geared to invoking the attention of the younger, less politically active generation. This innovative type of technology garnered worldwide attention, but at the same time it alienated the older generation. The lectures constantly remind us the importance of bridging the generational gaps and reinforcing intergenerational relations. By having elderlies embrace the social services of technology, it will create a link of understanding and communication between older adults and the younger generations.

Resources


(2010, June 3). Center for Technology and Aging Expert Panel Identifies How Older Americans Can Use Technology to Enhance Social Action [Electronic version]. Internet Wire. Retrieved on 25 March 2012 from Business & Company Resource Center. 


Mitzner, T., Boron, J., Fausset, C., Adams, E., Charness, N., Czaja, S., Dijkstra, K., Fisk, A., Rogers, W., & Sharit, J. (2010). Older adults talk technology: technology usage and attitudes [Electronic version]. Computers in Human Behavior, 26 (6), 1710-1721. Retrieved on 24 March 2012 from SciVerse database.

Venard, L. (2011, October 8). They're older and tech-savvy: embracing technology - and loving it [Electronic version]. Newsday. Retrieved on 25 March 2012 from LexisNexis Academic database.

Technological Learning Environment for the Elderlies

In our lectures about education during aging, we were taught that to foster a good environment for older people that are willing to learn there should be a slower paced and supportive environment that emphasizes visuals and audio learning. However, after I wanted to gather more information on how elderly adults learn to utilize technology. When I read this article, I started understanding that it may not just be about the environment these older people need to be placed in (2012). Instead, we should also focus on other aspects such as the people who are teaching the uses of technology should be third-party individuals instead of family members. This gives a different perspective on whether or not intergenerational contribution to the learning process is necessarily beneficial. The article suggests that by having family members in the technological learning process it provides too many emotional ties and extra stress that could be harmful not only to the older adults, but also the younger family members. The authors of Older Adults' Training Preferences For Learning To Use Technology reflect that the benefit of older adult technological learning is that there are more open to having a whole variety of people as their instructors for technological learning (2010). They also noted that the content is not the most indicative of their effective learning, but rather it is the "trainer" that makes the experience for elderlies most effective. Oftentimes, research reveals that elderlies have negative attitudes towards adopting this technology, but they do understand the importance and benefits of doing so. Thus, Mike Waites presents research on how technology can be learned in an easier fashion through MAAVIS (Managed Access to Audio Visual and Information Services), a touchscreen piece of technology that combines the two aspects (audio and visual learning) that the lecture covers is important to successful elderly learning (2008). It can be seen as a form of jumping over the painful process and stress that the elderlies may feel during the learning process. From all this research, I learned that measures are being taken to ensure a proper learning environment for the elderlies that are willing to face this problem; on the other hand, technological measures are also being taken for the elderlies that are fearful and hesitant about technology.

References

Maltais, M. (2012 March 21). Seniors and their iPads, iPhones: keeping up in the computer age [Electronic version]. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved on 24 March 2012 from Los Angeles Times.

Mitzner, T., Fausset, C., Boron, J., Adams, A., Dijkstra, K., Lee, C., Rogers, W., and Fisk, A. (2008). Older adults' training preferences for learning to use technology [Electronic version]. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 52 (26), 2047-2051. Retrieved on 24 March 2012 from SAGE Journals database.

Waites, M. (2010 August 8). Technology giving care-home elderly window on the world [Electronic version]. Yorkshire Post. Retrieved on 24 March 2012 from Yorkshire Post.