The Internet can also enhance educational opportunities for older adults and enable them to take a more active role in their own health care. The Internet can help mitigate problems with social isolation, foster linkages to family and friends, and facilitate the performance of essential activities such as banking and shopping. Technology has the potential of increasing the quality of life for older people.
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Further, older populations may not realize the full benefits of available technologies.
Not being able to use technology such as computers or the Internet puts older adults at a disadvantage in terms of their ability to live and function independently and successfully perform everyday tasks. Results from a recent survey also suggest that computer users over the age of 65 have less confidence in their ability to use computers than do younger people and have fewer computer skills ( American Association of Retired Persons, 2002). In 2003, only 25% of Americans over the age of 65 were “online,” as compared with 56% of 30- to 49-year-olds and 36% of those in the 50- to 64-year-old age group ( Pew Internet and American Life Project, 2005).įurther, seniors who use the Internet perform online activities such as e-mail and information searches at lower rates than do younger Internet users ( Pew Internet and American Life Project, 2004). Technology is also being used increasingly within the health care arena for service delivery, in-home monitoring, interactive communication (e.g., between patient and physician), transfer of health information, and peer support.Īlthough older adults in the United States are increasingly using technology, data indicate that they typically have more difficulty than do younger people in learning to use and operate current technologies such as computers, the Internet, videocassette recorders, automatic teller machines, and telephone menu systems (e.g., Charness, Schumann, & Boritz, 1992 Czaja & Sharit, 1999 Czaja, Sharit, Ownby, Roth, & Nair, 2001 Rogers, Fisk, Mead, Walker, & Cabrera, 1996 Sharit, Czaja, Nair, & Lee, 2003). Use of technology has become an integral component of work, education, communication, and entertainment. Technology, which is broadly defined as the application of scientific knowledge (including tools, techniques, products, processes, and methods) to practical tasks ( United States National Library of Medicine, 2004), is ubiquitous in most societal contexts within the United States and most other industrialized countries. These findings are discussed in terms of training strategies to promote technology adoption.
The relationship between age and adoption of technology was mediated by cognitive abilities, computer self-efficacy, and computer anxiety. The results also indicate that computer anxiety, fluid intelligence, and crystallized intelligence were important predictors of the use of technology. Findings indicate that the older adults were less likely than younger adults to use technology in general, computers, and the World Wide Web. All participants completed a battery that included measures of demographic characteristics, self-rated health, experience with technology, attitudes toward computers, and component cognitive abilities. The sample included 1,204 individuals ranging in age from 18–91 years.
The present article reports findings from the Center for Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement (CREATE) on the use of technology among community-dwelling adults. The successful adoption of technology is becoming increasingly important to functional independence.
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