Seeing the Social in Technology for Older Adults: Making the Implicit Explicit Through a Multidisciplinary Lens

Abstract

Technology is profoundly human, shaping and shaped by our social practices. It causes change, engages diverse stakeholders, raises ethical concerns, and embodies values through its design and use. In one form or another, technology is ubiquitous in the lives of elders. Technologies to support connectedness, safety and well-being are fascinating topics of study not only for what they can do and promise to do for older adults, but for what they and their associated practices could tell us about social perceptions and expectations of old age. The aim of this chapter is to feature the diversity of lenses applied to the study of how technology practices intersect with age, as well as implications for future research and policy making processes. Intersections of age and ability, gender, socioeconomic status, and the understudied intersections of technology, age and culture are areas that can be viewed through a single disciplinary lens, but truly illuminated through a multidisciplinary approach. PU - SPRINGER PI - NEW YORK PA - 233 SPRING STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10013, UNITED STATES