Mobility issues or digital natives as seniors?

Posted on May 2, 2008 by infomaven4u

No - I’m not talking about walkers.  A friend forwarded this blog post to me about “The importance of the mobile web”     http://www.semanticlibrary.net/2008/04/17/the-importance-of-the-mobile-web/  The article zings through a lot of interesting topics but I ended up thinking about the future. 

Any digital native worth their salt is using portable devices - texting, listening, sending images, viewing, etc.    BUT…wait! We ALL get OLD.  What will they do when their hearing wanes (too much time spent with earbud speakers),  they will have arthritis (fingers won’t work for texting), their vision dims (tiny view screens just won’t cut it). 

What will be created to accommodate the aging process for these users?  If our bodies don’t allow us to use the device we accept as the norm then what?  Is this an investment opportunity?  Get in early and start designing now… ;-)

But seriously - this IS the main communication link up for so many but what will it morph into for the aging digital native?  Not something we have to solve but an interesting issue given that the current devices aren’t really usable by the majority of the senior population.   As we size everything down to be lighter and portable we also exclude and narrow the user group.

 

Filed under: New Ideas

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5 Responses to “Mobility issues or digital natives as seniors?”

  1. Anne Abrams, on May 5th, 2008 at 4:33 pm Said:

    You’ll be pleased to know I’m reviewing an advoacy grant that addresses this issue. Several libraries are joining together to hold a library summit inviting opinion leaders in to talk about how the community can prepare workers for the 21st century–and then how the library can work with them to make that happen. Stay tuned for more…

    aa

  2. wedothatinidaho, on May 5th, 2008 at 6:41 pm Said:

    i did a project on this in grad school. vision, or lack thereof, had been a major obstacle to seniors using the net, but now they are the most rapidly growing internet user group! Check out this report:

    http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/117/report_display.asp

    “The percent of seniors who go online has jumped by 47% between 2000 and 2004.”

  3. Semantic Library » More on mobiles, on May 7th, 2008 at 1:23 pm Said:

    [...] post about the mobile web asks if we are taking into account the needs of older mobile users. In Mobility issues or digital natives as seniors? from C3 Library - “…this IS the main communication link up for so many but what will it [...]

  4. melanes, on May 8th, 2008 at 12:52 am Said:

    Another problem I have seen is many, many seniors are afraid of technology. How do we help them overcome that? What resources do we as librarians provide in terms of teaching them to “point and click”?

  5. Glenna, on May 12th, 2008 at 5:15 pm Said:

    I agree that currently we aren’t addressing senior needs as much as we should. BUT the issue I was thinking about was what will the young people of today create to accomodate THEIR aging process?

    Their situation will be different in that they have grown up with technology. They have embraced it but as they age their bodies may not be able to use the same technology. Miniaturization, which is coveted now, could backfire. Just thinking without having any answers. Glenna

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