Ageism and sexism amongst young computer scientists

Abstract

A study was undertaken with 189 young computer science students to assess whether as future developers of technologies for older people, they have ageist and sexist attitudes about people as users of technology. They were shown a picture of either a young or old woman or man and asked to assess the likelihood that this person would use a desktop computer, laptop computer and a smartphone, and their level of expertise in each of these technologies. The results showed that the students did have negative perceptions of the older people in comparison to young people. They also thought that women were less expert with the technologies than men, although there was no difference in the likelihood of them using the technology. However, there was no evidence of a “double standard” of older women being perceived particularly negatively.