Critical engagements with ageing and technology – Why we need Socio-Gerontechnology

Abstract

of and and Do we need critical approaches to Gerontechnology (for) and how can Socio-Gerontechnology and four and of older adults’ technological literacy is often overlooked in these processes. They suggest resourceful DIY solutions of older people as an alternative starting point of design processes. A. Bischof and P. Graf will take a critical look at robotics in care settings, suggesting an alternative to the dichotomy of more human-centred and more technologie-centred approaches in human-robot interaction for care. N. K. Dalmer and K. L. Ellison will investigate how younger adults imagine technological solutions and digital and ageing futures. A. Peine, M. Fernández-Ardévol, E. Loos, A. Rosales and D. Blanche analyse the interrelatedness of digital practices and social connectedness in later life and show how digital mobiles practices not only impact notions of social connectedness, but increasingly shape them. CONCLUSION The session highlights the relevance of critical approaches in Gerontechnology, STS, Age Studies as well as critical and cultural gerontology. Socio-Gerontechnology as an emerging field of research outlines more reflexive ways of intervening in the design and application of Gerontechnologies. our ways in which people We draw on two social projects on the creative everyday life solutions of older people. the Resourceful Ageing project (1, 2). In this project designers, engineers, social scientists and partners from industry worked together to understand the resourcefulness of older people and use it as an inspiration for the design of new gerontechnologies. During this project we used semi-structured interviews, ethnographically inspired observation techniques and an innovative diary approach to get an in depth understanding of the way in which older people use material and digital resources to enrich their lives or deal with everyday life challenges. The project is the VELTEK project (3). This project studied the innovative work that frontline care professionals do to co-construct gerontechnologies and eldercare services, and how it shapes the experience of ageing. Using semi-structured interviews with care professionals, part of this project on their professional encounters with DIY gerontechnology (4) - innovative assemblages that older adults create for themselves in order to resolve issues that available gerontechnologies do not address. Results and Discussion We will show that older participants have their own technological literacy which allows them to craft creative inherently non-stigmatizing solutions for everyday life problems, which are understandable and useful to them. Moreover, a focus on creative solutions highlights what is important to older people and resourceful solutions are often a source of pride and satisfaction. of imposing high-tech innovations that don’t fit in with the lives of older people, up with their resourcefulness “ What’s the limit?” Purpose Current trends in Age Tech innovation designed to enable aging-in-place assume a shared vision of a future where aging can and should be monitored and controlled through data. Many of these technologies include ambient sensors that silently and remotely track the older, “at risk” person’s comings and goings, their eating, sleeping and bathroom habits, whether they are taking their medication, their gate, the length of time they are sitting, standing, or lying down, and the list goes on. Although there have been some efforts to include the experiences and desires of older adults into the design and critique of aging-in-place technologies, young adults, as future users of these devices – both as caregivers and cared for – have thus far been excluded. Method To understand whether current trends in Age Tech innovation reflect a future that young adults envision for themselves as they reach what they would define as 'old age', in focus groups with individuals between the ages of 18-35, we asked participants to visually map out onto floor plans the kinds of technologies they imagine using in their home in later life. Results and Discussion Reflecting on the conversations that were elicited in the presentation and discussion of these maps, we highlight the multiple sources of tension participants voiced as they imagined living with technologies in their later years. These sources of tension arose from a desire to limit technologies in some manner, whether by decreasing their dependence on technologies or by striving for balance in living with technologies. As we argue, their concerns trouble the assumption that technological resistance by older adults is merely a reflection of generational bias and incompetence. These findings highlight the need to be as innovative in finding new ways to dis connect from technology and the digital world as we are in finding new ways to digitize our aging futures. We conclude by suggesting that the first step in doing so is to ask people, both young and old, caregivers and cared for, if this is a technology they would want in their own home, now and into the future. Purpose Digitization has become an inherent part of later life, but we are only beginning to understand what this means for the experience of ageing. The subjective experience of being connected is an essential ingredient supporting continued wellbeing in later life. This includes dimensions related, among others, to playfulness, leisure, health and social participation. So, it is important to get insight into the use of digital devices and the role they play in maintaining existing and shaping new forms of social connectedness. Today, smartphones are being increasingly used by people in their everyday life. But we still lack insight into the characteristics and dynamics of their use and its impact on social connectedness. For this reason we will first review empirical studies on older people’s smartphone use in everyday life, and we will then present the preliminary results of our empirical study, part of the international research project BConnect@Home (2) that we conducted in Canada, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden in 2019 (1). Method We present data of different and similar trends in how older persons use smartphones in their home and other locations in these four countries, collected by tracking smartphone and mobile app activity patterns of 400 individuals (100 per country) between 55 and 79 years old. We map and trace the use of their smartphones in a comparative perspective, combining quantitative and qualitative data (i.e., tracking activity patterns during one month, a survey, and interviews focussed on how older people experience their smartphone use related to their sense of social connectedness). Results & Discussion Using theoretical cues from the emerging body of critical studies in ageing and technology, we aim to illuminate how digital mobile practices shape notions and forms of social connectedness, rather than merely impacting on them. To conclude, we ponder how practitioners of gerontechnology can meaningfully link to existing digital practices of older people.