Technology and Older Adults Essay -- Research Age Essays

Technology and Older Adults It is normally believed that older people atomic number 18 uncomfortable with new forms of technology and that they be more resistant to using technology than are younger people. This impression often places older people at a disadvant suppurate, because designers fail to realize older people as a potential user assembly when designing technology, both software and hardware (Parsons, Terner, & Kersley, 1994). Another misconception is that the older are unable to learn new skills. Older people are much overlooked when opportunities for technology training or retraining are do available, however, a study of aging and cognitive abilities concluded that decreases in news are modest until people reach their eighties. Even at the age of 80, fewer than half of the individuals showed measurable decreases (Holt, 1998). And still another misconception is the belief that the elderly are set in their ways, that they are not open to diverseness or capable of creativity. Research, again, has disproved such claims, showing that creativity is a constitution trait and does not depend upon age (Ibid.). What then has led to these prevalent misconceptions? Part of the problem could be a trait called cautiousness. Cautiousness in older adult problem-solving is one of the most frequently mentioned performance-limiting factors and is described as a hesitancy about making responses that may be ludicrous (Salthouse, 1991). The research finding is that older adults do not perform as well as younger adults because older adults do not turn out as much success in solving logical problems, spacial ability problems, inductive reasoning problems, or practical problems. Younger adults list to show a better performance if the task requi... ...and cautiousness in decision A review of the literature. Human Development, 19, pp. 220-233. Parsons, H.M., Terner, J., and Kearsley, G. (1994). Design of remote oblige units for seniors, Experimental Ag ing Research, 20, pp. 211-218. Salthouse, T. A.. (1991). Theoretical perspectives on cognitive aging, Hillsdale, NJ, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. White, Heidi McConnell, Eleanor Clipp, Elizabeth Bynum, Louise Teague, Carmen Navas, Luis Craven, Sara and Halbrecht, Herbert. (1999). Surfing the winnings in later life A review of the literature and buff study of computer use and quality of life. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 18(3), pp. 358-378. Zeithaml, V. A. and Gilly, M. C. (1987). Characteristics impact the acceptance of retailing technologies A comparison of elderly and nonelderly consumers, Journal of Retailing, 63, p. 4948.