Initially, mobile devices and websites were considered something primarily for young people, but, today, smartphones are becoming increasingly popular among older adults who use them for various purposes. With the aging population of the US, it is estimated that by 2030, 19 percent of its citizens qualify as elderly (García-Peñalvo, Conde-González, & Matellán-Olivera, 2014). The ability to access online sites is seen as an advantage, and the failure to successfully use digital devices and online resources is a serious obstacle encountered by many elderly citizens. Among the key issues, there is a need to address poor vision, hearing, and motor control, along with building relationships via social networks and receiving necessary information in a timely manner.
What are the Elderly’s Needs with Regard to Websites and Mobile Devices?
Mobile Devices for Vision, Hearing, and Motor Control
Often, older adults see and hear poorly and may have issues with speech and memory. To support this category of users, contemporary smartphones have features to increase voice volume and use onscreen zoom for the content of websites. For instance, for people who have impaired vision, there are special amplifying lens modes which can adjust the level of vision by regulating brightness, fonts, and so on (Obi, Ishmatova, & Iwasaki, 2013).
3There are also applications that develop motor skills, monitor health, or assist in training memory. It may be the case that older adults’ gestures are no longer precise enough to control touch screens and small buttons, and they may find it much more difficult to learn something new compared to younger users (Braun, 2013). Therefore, developers should pay attention to their specific needs while designing websites and mobile devices.
Websites for Improving and Supporting Health
The target population needs websites and mobile devices to have an inclusive design, which ensures usability and promotes potential health improvement. For example, Broderick et al. (2014) note that health literacy applications are useful for explaining to older adults the importance of their disease, prescribed medications, nutrition, and other essential issues that are critical for their health. Hussain, Wenbi, da Silva, Nadher, and Mudhish (2015) emphasize the role of mobile emergency platforms that can be used by the elderly to contact their doctors directly and ask for medical services. Such platforms should be intuitively comprehensible and easy to navigate, so that the elderly face as fewer difficulties as possible.
Opportunities for Relationship Building
To minimize the risk of social isolation among older adults and enable them to change their life for the better, they can be encouraged to use social networks (Mohammed, Belal, & Ibrahim, 2016). Someone can contact them from time to time to help them send or receive emails, watch videos, or order products and services, while some elderly people demonstrate a higher level of technical expertise (Hossain, Alamri, Almogren, Hossain, & Parra, 2014). Also, with the help of instant messaging applications, the elderly can make video calls and communicate with their loved ones. Access to different media services is likely to allow older citizens to remain aware of recent trends and events.
Summary
In sum, older adult users have specific requirements for using websites and mobile devices such as accessibility and intuitive design. These people may require significant adaptations for their hearing, vision, and motor control. By using mobile applications and accessing websites, they can learn more about their health needs while consulting with doctors and receiving timely information. Also, social networks and media can be considered as a means of entertainment for the elderly.
References
Braun, M. T. (2013). Obstacles to social networking website use among older adults. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(3), 673-680.
Broderick, J., Devine, T., Langhans, E., Lemerise, A. J., Lier, S., & Harris, L. (2014). Designing health literate mobile apps. Web.
García-Peñalvo, F. J., Conde-González, M., & Matellán-Olivera, V. (2014). Mobile apps for older users – The development of a mobile apps repository for older people. In P. Zaphiris & A. Ioannou (Eds.), Learning and collaboration technologies. Technology-rich environments for learning and collaboration (pp. 117-126). Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.
Hossain, M. A., Alamri, A., Almogren, A. S., Hossain, S. K., & Parra, J. (2014). A framework for a context-aware elderly entertainment support system. Sensors, 14(6), 10538-10561.
Hussain, A., Wenbi, R., da Silva, A. L., Nadher, M., & Mudhish, M. (2015). Health and emergency – Care platform for the elderly and disabled people in the Smart City. Journal of Systems and Software, 110, 253-263.
Mohammed, M. A., Belal, A. K., & Ibrahim, D. A. (2016). Human interaction with mobile devices on social networks by young and elderly people: Iraq a case study. Indian Journal of Science and Technology, 9(42), 1-9.
Obi, T., Ishmatova, D., & Iwasaki, N. (2013). Promoting ICT innovations for the ageing population in Japan. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 82(4), 47-62.