Technology Use by Older Adults

As people live longer and everyday life becomes increasingly mediated by digital tools, researchers in gerontechnology and aging studies examine how older adults adopt, adapt to, and are sometimes excluded from technologies ranging from smartphones and the internet to health-monitoring devices. A central concern is the digital divide—the gap in access and skill that can deepen social isolation among older populations even as technology expands connection for everyone else. Scholars are working to understand not just who uses what, but why patterns of adoption differ so sharply by education, income, and prior experience, and how design choices either welcome or inadvertently shut out older users. Open questions include how inclusive design principles can be translated into mainstream products rather than niche "senior" devices, and whether technology genuinely reduces loneliness or simply adds a new layer to persistent structural inequalities in social support.

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46,937

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340,621

Keywords

Older AdultsTechnology UseInternetSocial IsolationDigital DivideGerontechnology