Older people – at last being recognised by tech companies

For years the development of technology has been focused on youngsters, but now the firms behind our phones and laptops are waking up to a previously ignored part of their potential market – older adults.

It's an irony, given our ageing population, that the needs of the older generation have been largely ignored by technology developers for so long. Given the explosion in new gadgets and devices – mobile phones, tablets and home entertainment systems for example, not to mention voice activated gizmos like Alexa– you'd have thought one of the brain-boxes behind the tech would have thought, "Now, who else can we sell to? Maybe the older people demographic need a second thought?"

But they didn't – despite the number of older people in society – not to mention their buying power! The teen and young adult markets dominated their thoughts around how their products should be operated. For reasons known only to themselves, the 'silver pound' wasn't really considered.

Short-sighted

And whilst the needs of older people were being ignored, more of the world was becoming accessible only through the internet. Day to day services as mundane as banking and parking and basic local authority services such as following up missed rubbish collections have all moved online. As we mentioned in our previous blog on paying for parking (Are Apps Ageist? (seniorsurf.co.uk)) if you're not online you're essentially frozen out from performing many day to day tasks.

In terms of the technology itself, the shift from push button devices (with key boards and number pads) to sensitive screens that require you to swipe them has brought about issues for many, particularly those with dexterity and movement issues in their hands or tremors from conditions such as Parkinsons.

The touch-screens in particular, which can change quickly and whizz between web pages in a flash, can confuse and intimidate people who need a little longer to think about things. In my computer courses for beginners, helping older people make the most of the internet, these screens are raised a lot as an issue.

Light at the end of the tunnel

Happily, the worm seems to have turned! A lightbulb has come on above some tech developer's head and finally we're seeing an increase in the number of products and services either focused on older users, or at least with their particular needs in mind.

A smashing mobile phone manufacturer in Sweden called Doro stands out as a hero to older would-be internet users. Doro found that whilst young people are comfortable using touchscreens or interfaces, many older people are not. In response, Doro has designed its phones with adjustable larger text and icon sizes (great for those of us whose eye-sight isn't what it was). Their phones are compatible with hearing aids and are made with an easy-to-grip material.

As their website says, "Age should never be a reason for not being able to enjoy all that a modern smartphone has to offer". Too right! Senior Surf isn't affiliated with Doro in any way, but you can buy their phones are available in the UK - if you want to have a look at what they have on offer click here.

By the way, changing fonts and increasing text sizes can be done on just about all mobile devices – get in touch if you need help figuring out how to do it on your own device.

Older people – the future of the internet!

Tech firms are now increasingly looking at how they can make their products more 'senior friendly'. Both in terms of the look and feel of phones and tablets and the apps (that is, computer programmes designed to run on a mobile device) that go on them, older people are finally front and centre of research and design. Tech support for older adults and adult computer classes are also increasingly popular. Given the number of older people in our population this makes a lot of sense.

As we've said before, technology is only getting more prevalent and important in our day to day lives – getting up to speed with how it works is becoming all but essential, it's a case of 'can't beat 'em