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Aging and Technology

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Abstract

In this chapter, we first discuss the changing demographics of our species, homo sapiens. While we have very young populations in many developing countries, we observe an increasing number of people aged 65+ in other countries. This brings up a number of challenges, including how seniors can achieve a long and healthy life, a goal which can potentially be facilitated by technologies. However, the track record of technologies designed specifically for “seniors” is mixed at best. We explore the factors that drive technology adoption by an aging population and give examples of both successes and failures. We conclude with a summary of “universal design” which is the concept that products and technologies should be designed with all users in mind.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Baby Boomers are the generation with birth years 1946–1964.

  2. 2.

    For some medications, the correct course of action is to “catch up” on a missed dose within a certain number of hours, while for others, it is recommended to skip the missed dose entirely. These rules are prescription specific and can be coded into the operating software of the system.

  3. 3.

    This technology “gap” may be shrinking as increasingly tech savvy seniors make up a larger and larger fraction of the aging population over age 65.

  4. 4.

    This is the first technology adoption factor listed in Fig. 21.4.

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  1. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Olivier L. de Weck

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de Weck, O.L. (2022). Aging and Technology. In: Technology Roadmapping and Development . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88346-1_21

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