"But I don't need that" is the standard reaction from the elderly when it's suggested they try out new technologies. But that answer doesn't address the question: "Why not make use of potentially useful or entertaining digital helpers?" Indeed, most experts say that once senior citizens get their hands on a gadget, they tend to become enthusiastic users.
The problem is that many elderly people have a kind of barrier in their mind, represented by the concept: "It has to be worth it." It's an astonishingly high barrier when it comes to older people, found Hendrik Wilmanns of the consulting company SirValUse.
"They want to make complete use of a device," says the usability expert, who has conducted several studies of senior citizens. They ask themselves why they should buy something new if they're not going to make use of all the functions on the new device.
Thus, older shoppers are more cautious about new purchases, always finding ways to avoid them or put them off. That is not the fault of manufacturers and the new features they've dreamt up, says Wilmans. "Since the material is presented in a complicated manner, a lot of older people won't even bother with it," he says. "Arguments like 12 megapixels or 20,000 apps in the App Store tend to scare them off." That's because such an approach only reminds senior citizens of the time they're likely to waste learning (and forgetting) some functions. "It would be better to convey the idea that you don't need to use all the functions to be happy." But things change as soon as older shoppers recognise the usefulness of the functions of a device - like the smartnav system in a smartphone, which can show their location on a map. "When someone shows them which button to push, they're almost euphoric," says Wilmanns.
"You can't say that seniors don't like technology," says Nicola Biltstein, an economist at the Catholic University in the German city of Eichstaett. "Additional conscious use increases the readiness to use technology," says Biltstein, who works with Germany's Education Ministry on a project to boost the technical capacities of older Germans.
But uncertainty remains. "People are different in regards to technical affinity," says Biltstein. Older people seem to regularly experience the fear of breaking things. More complicated gadgets only heighten the phenomenon. "Some things are over-engineered," she says. But the added bonuses of smartphones seem to be winning over even more senior citizens. A study by consulting company Deloitte showed that the number of people aged between 65 and 75 using smartphones had more than doubled between 2010 and 2011, from 6 to 13 per cent.
Touchscreens remain a problem area. On the one hand, they are, in theory, easier to use than small buttons. But the art of pushing a touchscreen has to be mastered, Wilmanns has noticed. "The tendency to push far too hard was hard to overcome. You have to explain that, not once, but several times."
So, devices with all the bells and whistles are usually not the right ones for grandparents. They would rather use a camera, and not a mobile phone's camera function. "Two products they understand are better," Biltstein confirms. "Something that has a central function, is very, very good," says Wilmanns in reference to older consumers. Most did just fine with navigational devices. "We never had terribly many significant problems there during the tests," he noted.
Most elderly users also tend to have no problems using flat-screen televisions, says Biltstein. One person proudly explained how the new television was easier to move and carry, making it easier to clean beneath.
Along with user friendliness, seniors put a lot of store in reliability. And they want to first test products out to make sure the technology won't fail them later, said Biltstein. A higher price, obviously, decreases the interest in testing out new gadgets. Older customers tend to prefer the tried and true when it comes to listening to music, which tends to mean radio or CDs. "It's fairly unlikely that Generation 55-plus is going to make a change of systems," says Wilmanns. Many of them are turned off by the idea of getting music from a hard drive or the internet.
Thus, the real challenge is to find ways to convince and explain to older people that technology can make their lives easier. "The family is an important source of influence," says Wilmanns. "People ask their partner, their children or their grandchildren, or they want something they've seen with someone else." Ideally, those sources of inspiration will stick around to explain how the device can be used in everyday life.
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