What is the effect of new technologies on people with ages between 45 and 75?

Abstract

When we look around us, we see people of all ages using all kinds of technology, more specifically, devices like cellphones are used by younglings, adults and older people. There is no escaping it. Consequently, we decided to analyse how technologies affect the lives of these men and women, focusing on an older age group, mainly because of the lack of studies that focus on people over 65. If most of them are able to speak, focus, and learn, how many of them have given in to the new waves of evolution that have feasted on the world for the past few years? That is exactly what we are trying to find out: How older people react to new technology (more specifically to information and communication technologies or ICT), how often and how they use it. For this study, we decided to focus on the littoral north of Portugal, given that the author-group’s members live along the coast line. A survey was performed (with 56 valid responses) as were eight interviews. Regarding the view that the older people we have interviewed have of millennials, most of our respondents show some concern. Notably, they see the Internet as an addiction of the younger elements in society, contributing to them getting into trouble, losing interest in school, meeting up with strangers and only being concerned with being popular on social media. As concerns ICT usage by elders, the psychological component of the “I can’t" does not help them.