Older people are increasingly tech-savvy
A brilliant piece was published this week that looked at the issues around ageism in the development of technology. The article looked at why so few designers have older people's needs in mind when developing new devices and platforms – as the piece pointed out, older people are an increasingly tech-savvy bunch so why aren’t the clever people in research and development labs not bearing them in mind?
Something I often hear from customers of Senior Surf in our personal computer lessons, when I'm helping set up a new iPad or mobile device, is that they struggle with the tech they're expected to be able to use, or have to use.
Small screens on phones are a real problem if you're suffering with poor eyesight. Small buttons on phones, or really sensitive screens, can be equally frustrating if you have arthritis or suffer from tremors or shaking. Websites that are too 'busy', with flashing images, fast moving text or have just too much going on can be a pain for, well, anyone to be fair, but not least of all older people.
For older users of technology, the very devices which are increasingly essential to use, it seems, are almost designed without older people in mind and almost to, ironically, make our lives harder.
Young men
As the article – which you can read here (hover your mouse of the word and you can click through to it) says, there has been increasing awareness of how digital technologies and platforms can discriminate on the bases of gender, race and class – but ageism has received less attention. It mentions that most people who work in technology development are young men, who, arguably, design for their own demographic. They think of the experience and design needs from a young person's perspective and they don't have a broad enough idea of the challenges that some sectors of society (older people!) might face using their latest creation.
To their credit, the authors of the piece are working at the forefront of a new way of thinking about how the design process should change to ensure older people are involved and that the needs of older people are involved from the get-go. The posh name is 'co-design', meaning a process where target audiences are involved in product development. It's used a lot with, for example, people with disabilities, to make sure that the end product does actually help them – it's accepted that an able-bodied person can't realistically successfully second guess the user experience of a disabled person.
It's a good idea and there's no reason why older people shouldn't get involved in the same way. Technology projects, where older people are a part of the end-user group should be informed, directed and influenced by older people so that the final product or service is aligned with older peoples' needs, experiences and expertise.
Stand by my enthusiasm
I've written previously on the need for older people to be considered when technology is being developed – I was excited to see older-person friendly mobile phones being developed by the Swedish firm Doro and wrote that designers seemed to be waking up to the needs of some older people. I stand by my enthusiasm and optimism for this new older-person-centric approach, but the reality is that it hasn't really picked up much momentum.
Let's hope that changes – there's no reason why it shouldn't.
The last word should go to the authors of the article – quite rightly they say, "Researchers, designers and technology developers need to take the initiative and spend time to think through personal biased related to age-based stereotypes to design tech with older people." Quite right!