Technology and older adults: factors affecting the adoption of automatic teller machines

Although technology can benefit service providers, caregivers, and the elderly, its application in an aging society can bring special challenges. This study looked at older adults' adoption of one technology that is highly prevalent in modern society--the automatic teller machine (ATM). The findings indicated that users and nonusers differed in mechanical reasoning skills and in attitudes toward ATM technology. Older adults with higher mechanical reasoning skills were more likely to be ATM users. Nonusers had more negative attitudes toward ATMs, and, among nonusers, those who had tried an ATM had more positive attitudes than those who had never tried one. The findings of this study are discussed in terms of factors that may affect the adoption of other technologies by older adults. Suggestions for increasing the acceptance of technologies by the elderly are also addressed.