Technology makes older adults feel older.

Area of Science:

• Gerontology and Cognitive Psychology
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Social Psychology

Background:

• The increasing integration of technology into daily life raises questions about its psychological impact on individuals across the lifespan.
• Understanding how technology interaction influences self-perception, particularly subjective age, is crucial for the well-being of an aging population.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the influence of technology use on subjective age assessment in adults.
• To explore whether technology use makes older adults feel older and if this effect differs based on technology familiarity.

Main Methods:

• 151 participants (aged 18–83) completed subjective age assessments before and after interacting with familiar and unfamiliar applications on a touchscreen tablet.
• Subjective age was measured using both line marking and numerical response scales.
• The study compared changes in subjective age between younger and older participants and across different application types.

Main Results:

• Older participants reported feeling older after technology use, whereas younger participants did not show a similar shift.
• The effect of feeling older was more pronounced when using unfamiliar applications compared to familiar ones.
• Technology use appears to evoke stereotype threat, influencing self-perception without necessarily impairing performance.

Conclusions:

• Technology interaction can alter subjective age perception, particularly in older adults, potentially due to stereotype threat.
• The findings highlight the need to consider the psychological impact of technology on older adults' well-being in an increasingly digital world.
• Future interventions may aim to mitigate negative self-perception shifts associated with technology use among the elderly.