Open Access“Am I representative (of my age)? No, I’m not”—Attitudes to technologies and technology development differ but unite individuals across rather than within generations
Author(s) -
Sofi Fristedt,
Samantha Svärdh,
Charlotte Löfqvist,
Steven Schmidt,
Susanne Iwarsson
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0250425
Subject(s) - emerging technologies , technology development , usable , everyday life , service (business) , digital health , focus group , health technology , psychology , knowledge management , business , computer science , health care , marketing , engineering , political science , world wide web , artificial intelligence , law , manufacturing engineering
While a broad spectrum of technologies is integrated in everyday life and routines, most research on ageing, health and technology has focused on attitudes toward and adoption of digital technologies including e-health, or home based monitoring systems. The aim of this study was to explore differences and similarities in attitudes and experiences with different types of technologies and development within and between three generations. We applied a qualitative, descriptive design and recruited a purposeful sample of participants from three generations (30–39, 50–59, 70–79 year old). The 25 participants took part in 3 x 2 focus groups. Forming four categories, the findings show that technologies enable as well as complicate everyday life. Participants expressed trust as well as uncertainty about risks when using technology and stated that use of digital services is required while support is limited. They identified that technology development is inevitable but not always in the service of users. In conclusion, experiences of and attitudes towards technologies and technology development are not limited to generation; perspectives sometimes unite individuals across rather than within generations. Thus future technologies and technology development, as well as services and policies aiming to support the use of said technologies should consider individual user perspectives including needs, desires, beliefs or goals neglected in the existing technology models, and involve users beyond generations defined by chronological age. Such strategies are likely to be more successful in supporting development of technologies usable for all.