Are the older generation getting tech-savvy?

Thought provoking article on the BBC website on the tech needs of older people: www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20529991

It stems from work done at the Cambridge Design Centre, part of Cambridge University, looking at products and how older people use them.  It's clearly an important topic with the demographic shift to an aging population.

The video really highlights the problems designers have in seeing the world through the eyes of others. What to many younger users would be an intuitive interaction - touch and swipe - are not to older people who have a totally different mental model and a more analogue paradigm of usage.

It also demonstrates the difficulties for designers to really understand some of the physical constraints older people have.  Being able to experience this with modified glasses or adaptive aids that constraint joint movement etc can be great - our recent work with Guide Dogs for the Blind went through similar efforts with our team going on blindfolded walks with guide dogs and we also discovered some augmented reality apps that show you a view of the world with various visual impairments.

All really interesting and important issues especially when you look at increasing adoption of technology by older users in order to take advantage of some of the opportunities for things like reducing loneliness.

Robots helping us in old age?

This picture is from the National Geographic website as part of their feature ‘7 Billion Population’.  As the title suggests the global population is soon to reach this figure with an ever increasing proportion of elderly people.

The image shows a 69year old Japanese lady being assisted by a robot to do her supermarket shopping and was part of a research study by the researchers from Keihanna Science City, Kyoto, Japan.  In a country with a population of 128million, 29million are elderly and already outnumber the young.  This has raised concerns about who will be able to care for their older generations in years to come and what are the possible alternatives to relying on humans for support. 

The concepts of robots assisting or replacing humans in industry is nothing new, but incorporating them into our every day lives is perhaps considered, by most, as still being slightly unnerving.   The films Terminator and iRobot spring to mind! 

The design of substitute support humans would need to be robust and look at not only the user requirements but also how the two would interact: for example, would the user respond to voice, touch etc, could the robots perform multi-functions, would they be able to ‘talk’ to their owners and what happens in the event of a break down or malfunction, especially in the middle of a supermarket?  Further consideration would need to be given to training the users how to interact with the robots and this could prove difficult with the population groups that would perhaps benefit the most, such as the elderly.

Nevertheless, in the future, the integration of robots into everyday civilization could be a feasible option to help solve some serious issues as a result of our ever demanding global population, but the success is likely to rely heavily upon the human being kept at the centre of the design. 

Our thoughts on recent report on driving and the aging population

A recent report from the RAC Foundation tackled the subject of the older driver and maintaining their mobility.  Entitled "Maintaining safe mobility for the aging population" it covered a number of human factors issues in relation to car design and the design of road signage.

This comprehensive report stands aside from the fear that old drivers kill people and cause others to have accidents. It starts by assuming that the benefits of mobility apply at least as much to older people as to anyone else and looks at older drivers’ habits as well as their accident rates. The question seems to be “Why shouldn’t we impose special rules on older drivers” rather than “Older drivers are less safe – should we limit them?”

There is a careful (and exhaustive) study of actual accident rates involving older drivers, showing that their accident rate is little higher than other drivers and way below that of young, inexperienced drivers. Accident rate per mile driven is higher, but older people drive less, so the actual number of accidents is low. The studies included comparison of differing driver legislation in other countries to evaluate the effects of the law and national culture. It seems that more limiting legislation, as applied in some sountries does not improve road safety significantly – it only limits personal freedom.

A criticism might be that the report doesn’t successfully quantify the contribution of older people’s driving to other drivers’ accidents.

It is interesting to note that older people are more frail than younger people, so accidents to them tend to be more serious; and that if forced on to buses or walking, older people are likely to have more accidents.

The message is simple: Keep older people driving if practicable – it helps to sustain their independence, which is really important for everyone.