How Older People will change Technology
The growth of social mobility aided by technology. So this would look at how modern technology allows older people to be more socially mobile, connecting with each other and with family, friends, etc. through technologies such as Skype.
It could also discuss how older people can in fact, learn new skills related to computing and technology (there's a course on their page about this) and how as the current and future generations age, they will be quite tech-savvy and could be a valuable resource to areas such as web development and coding, where physical attributes are less of an issue.
The baby boomer generation is one of the fastest growing consumers of technology, yet is often treated in a patronising tone by those that market said tech.
In 2010, about a quarter of USA citizens were part of this 51-69 age bracket, yet accounted for around 40% of the tech spend in the nation. This meant they were top of the pile when it came to generational spends on tech. It's also worth pointing out they have the most discretionary income of all generations.
Financial concerns aside, it's very understandable why baby boomers and older generations really have taken a bigger push toward tech than other generations.
The state of modern technology allows for significant social mobility aided by technology. The easy to use operating systems on our mobile phones and tablets, alongside the array of amazing apps for communication, such as Skype, Whatsapp, Facebook and others, mean older people really want to and can utilise this tech easily and with notable benefit.
These technologies make it easy to connect with family, friends, relatives and others living near or very far away at a cost sensitive price and often even for 'free'.
The reality is the older generations are not as far removed from computers and IT as we think. Those now in their late 60s and of pensionable age would have only been in their late 20s or early 30s when PCs and computers began appearing in offices.
In a lot of cases, this has meant that older people have at the very least, basic IT skills and don't find using smart phones or laptops the burden those of older generations did. They may not be digital natives, but they're not that far off either.
In fact, many people of this age are looking to delve deeper into the world of IT and computing and learning new skills. There has been a notable rise in the numbers of older people learning to program and develop websites and apps. Needless to say owing to current trends in aging, this will only be useful for the future. In fact, it's expected that those over 65 will make up around 15.6% of the global populace by 2050.
This may usher in a sea change in the way we see older people not only in their use of technology, but also in our workplaces.
As computers and robots more specifically are expected to do more and more of our manual labour, humans will be utilised in positions where physical attributes are less of an issue – web development and coding for example. My expectation would be that future office generations will include older people in their 50s, 60s and 70s – many of whom will be coding and programming.
These older generations will be a valuable resource in this world of the future and may be the ones showing the next generation how to program a robot or just like and share on the 2050 equivalent of Facebook.
