Technology Domestication in Later Life

ABSTRACT

Technology domestication in old age may promote autonomy and support aging in place, but most previous research did not follow the process of domestication over time and in real life conditions. To gain deeper understanding of technology domestication in later life, we simultaneously explored uses, outcomes and constraints in real life conditions in a longitudinal study. Nineteen community-dwelling women aged 75–90 were provided with voice-controlled Intelligent Personal Assistants (Google Home) and their experiences with them were documented for three months via semi-structured interviews, observations, and weekly surveys. Analysis identified three different patterns of technology domestication: “Broad domestication” characterized by a high level of integration and ongoing experimentation, “focused domestication” in which the user mainly adopted one of the device’s functions, and “restrained domestication” wherein a short period of experimentation was followed by occasional use, if any. Demonstrating that the process of technology domestication is not homogeneous, the findings call for some theoretical updates and offer several practical implications.

KEYWORDS:

• Aging, artificial intelligence, displacement, voice assistants, wellbeing

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Ms. Mor Yachin and Ms. Michal Hanuka for their most valuable assistance in the data collection, and Dr. Leslie Haddon of London School of Economics for his insightful suggestions concerning this study.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a grant from the Israeli Ministry for Science and Technology [grant number: 3-15713].

Notes on contributors

Galit Nimrod

Galit Nimrod, is professor at the Department of Communication Studies and a research fellow at the Center for Multidisciplinary Research in Aging at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. She studies psychological and sociological aspects of leisure, media and technology use among older adults.

Yael Edan

Yael Edan, is professor at the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management and the Director of the Agricultural, Biological and Cognitive Robotics Initiative at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. She develops and researches intelligent automation systems with advanced R&D on human robot collaboration.