Technology and the Aging Population

Boomers

I was thinking who the aging population to be designed to really is and some of my research indicates that the baby boomer generation is the target. This generation has experienced more diverse technology throughout their lives than any previous generation which helps with the adoption of new technologies. They have seen, throughout their lifetime a rapid technological change which makes them keen on and open to new innovations. Never before have people worked, learned and played longer with our ever increasing lifespan. I looked into a research group at MIT called the “AgeLab.”

AgeLab
The AgeLab at MIT was created in 1999 to “invent new ideas and creatively translate technologies into practical solutions that improve people’s health and enable them to ‘do things’ throughout the lifespan. AgeLab has assembled a multi-disciplinary team of researchers, business partners, universities, and the aging community to design, develop and deploy innovations that touch nearly all aspects of how we will live, work and play tomorrow ("About AgeLab MIT AgeLab," 2010).”




What we know about the baby boomer generation may quite possibly indicate that they are the buyers (if not lead adopters) of the most high-tech, high-priced, and high-design (Coughlin 2007). However, a generation is not a homogenous group of people so should not be designed to as having a perceived need of a technological experience. Rather knowledge of an unfulfilled need should be discovered. But this is too simple of a concept. There should be a group of needs that are relative to a generation that allow quality aging.

Quality Aging Needs
The AgeLab took Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy (1943) diagram and substituted Maslow’s needs with “Quality Aging” needs and added innovation areas with them (Coughlin & Lau 2005):

Contribution – Education, workplace technologies; cognitive enhancement
Connectivity – Communication, entertainment, leisure, transportation alternatives, livable communities
Safety – Smart housing, personal emergency response, systems: robotics, ubiquitous computing
Health – Telemedicine: wearable computing, Point of decision aids; disease management and behavior systems

Five Lessons for Innovating/Designing for Quality Aging
When looking at the list of innovation areas, there are so many technological devices opportunities that require user interfaces. According to Coughlin, there are five valuable lessons when innovating/designing technology for quality aging:

Lesson 1 – Build it, they will come…maybe
User acknowledgement of an unfulfilled need is the first step to adopting a new technology. However, older adults are prone to user denial, particularly with regard to assistive technologies to support disease and disability. In such cases it is not apparent to an older person that he or she has reached the point at which they need a device to perform the functions that they have conducted all their lives without assistance.

Lesson 2 – User-centered Design may best be defined by the User
Ironically, the growth of new disruptive technologies is only rivaled by the growth of disruptive demographics in an aging marketplace. These two forces collide and are reconciled by designers on the interface of every new device.

Lesson 3 – Designing Value – It may be Usable, but is it Useful?
Even if older people can easily use a technology, they must value its functionality before adopting it fully. Research suggests that older users assess whether a new technology clearly provides greater value than the existing means they use to satisfy a given need. If the value is not appreciably greater than the existing means, then the likelihood of spending the time to learn how to use, let alone adopt, the technology is very low (Davis, et al., 1989; Adams, et al.,1992).

Lesson 4 – Designing Trust
Purchasing a product is only a beginning. Use and adoption requires trust. Engineering trust into new technology is receiving increasing attention from developers of both devices and services for older consumers. Trust can be best thought of as predictability and reliability. Research suggests that younger adults are more likely to ‘trust’ the promise and effectiveness of technology, even in the absence of user experience with the product, than older users who have performed similar functions without the aid of automation (Cotte, et al., 2001).

Lesson 5– Good Design. It’s all in your head
Product development and launch was easier when the consumer was young enough to see everything as new and novel. While admittedly fast moving and hard to keep, the ‘tween through twenty-something’ market is a relative tabla rasa when introducing new technology and design. Easier does not mean profitable in a market where their numbers are not as great as their parents’ – moreover, they purchase the more affordable products where margins are thinner.

In contrast, the boomers are now all grown up and have grown up tastes – representing both the fastest growing and most lucrative market that purchases the most profitable products. Unlike their children, older consumers have history, experience, and a general understanding to judge and guide their use of new products.


References
About AgeLab MIT AgeLab. (2010). Home MIT AgeLab. Retrieved November 13, 2010, from http://agelab.mit.edu/about-agelab

Cotte, N., Meyer, J., & Coughlin, J. (2001). Older and younger drivers' reliance on collision warning systems. Proceedings of the 45th Annual Meeting of the Human Factor Society, 277-280.

Coughlin, J. F., & Lau, J. (2005). Cathedral Builders Wanted: Constructing a New Vision of Technology for Old Age. Public Policy and Aging, 16(1), 4-8.

Coughlin, J. H. (2007). Speaking Silver: Lessons for Product Innovation & Development in an aging market. Retrieved November 13, 2010, from http://www.myriadweb.com/AgeLab/downloads/collateral/reporttemplate1.pdf

Davis, F. D., Bagozzi, R. P., & Warshaw, P. R. (1989). User Acceptance of Computer Technology:A comparison of two theoretical models. Management Science, 35, 982-1003.

Maslow, A. H. (1943). A. H. Maslow (1943) A Theory of Human Motivation. Psychology Review, 50, 370-396. Retrieved November 13, 2010, from http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Maslow/motivation.htm

Image:http://www.internetmarketinginc.com/blog/baby-boomers-are-back/

Image:http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://media.ebaumsworld.com/picture/petros753/ancient-laptop.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.ebaumsworld.com/pictures/view/53043/&usg=___G3zCgl3myEBNcmzm6pxO2Xf3Kw=&h=800&w=600&sz=64&hl=en&start=15&zoom=1&tbnid=-W4M27IU2EWe5M:&tbnh=159&tbnw=119&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dold%2Blaptop%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1192%26bih%3D504%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C390&itbs=1&ei=yXrhTNv8EJztnQeD0uSgDw&biw=1192&bih=504&iact=rc&dur=250&oei=wHrhTK6vEIG78gavqbiMDw&esq=2&page=2&ndsp=10&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:15&tx=54&ty=82