Circumspect Users: Older Adults’ as Critical Adopters and Resistors of Technology

Belen Barros Pena*, Rachel Clarke, Lars Holmquist, John Vines

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

19 Citations (Scopus)
70 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

While HCI research has often addressed the needs of older adults, they are often framed as being sceptical of digital technologies. We argue that while many older adults are circumspect users of digital technology, they bring rich and critical perspectives on the role of technology in society that are grounded in lived experiences across their life courses. We report on 20 technology life story interviews conducted with retirees over the age of 60. Our analysis shows how experiences of technology across their life courses significantly undermined participants’ sense of competency, independence, resilience, agency and control. Dissonances between what our participants valued and the perceived values of technology have led them to become critical adopters of technology, and resist its intrusion into certain aspects of their lives. We discuss how the critical perspectives of older adults and the value dissonances they experience are valuable for designing future digital technologies.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationCHI '21: Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Place of PublicationNew York
PublisherACM
Number of pages14
ISBN (Print)9781450380966
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 6 May 2021
EventACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2021) - Online, Yokohama, Japan
Duration: 8 May 202113 May 2021
https://chi2021.acm.org/
https://chi2021.acm.org

Publication series

NameConference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

Conference

ConferenceACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2021)
Abbreviated titleCHI 2021
Country/TerritoryJapan
CityYokohama
Period8/05/2113/05/21
Internet address

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