I've come to the conclusion that one of the major failings of new technology is that most of it is created by people half my age who design it for themselves, not for me. I was recently disheartened to learn that the AARP eligibility age is 50. Before then, as a new entrant into the 50-something set (I mean "new" on the geological scale), I thought that I could truthfully deny my eligibility for at least a decade. I comfort myself with the delusion that AARP represents Americans and, thanks to the cold up here in Canada, we're better preserved.
These two thoughts--that technology is not designed for old people and that I am old enough for the AARP--are connected. A little while back, the editor of this publication directed me to a New York Times article that talked about how cell phone makers, having saturated the youth market, wanted to target older people. It also mentioned that AARP had been complaining that cell phones were not designed well for seniors.
I could have told them that. Twenty-five-year-old designers are not good at putting themselves in the shoes of 50-year-olds, let alone the 65-plus-year-olds discussed in the article. Census data tells us that about 34.4% of the U.S. population was 45 or older in 2000. Demographers tell us that the population is aging rapidly, with the U.S. Census Bureau forecasting that by 2050 almost 43% of the population will be 45 or older and more than 20% will be 65 or older. It's about time technology designers considered this large and growing segment.
How can technology better accommodate this group? First, if you want to build something for them, make its use intuitive. I mean truly intuitive, not the "intuitive, easy-to-use, point-and-click user interface" marketing hype that every product touts. When you look at it, it should immediately be obvious how to use it. Older people have spent decades learning new things and many of them are tired of figuring out technology, not to mention just plain tired. And, not to put too fine a point on it, they don't have as much time left as you do. Older people don't want to waste their time trying and often failing to decipher incomprehensible technology. If you want to get them to use your product, keep it simple.
What am I talking about? It's mostly minutia. Think about cell phones. If for decades you picked up a phone and just dialed a number to speak to someone, you're not going to intuitively think to press a button marked Send after you key in a number. "Send? What am I sending? Who am I sending it to? I don't want to send anybody anything. I just want to talk to my friend." Wait. How did my mother's voice get inside my head?
It's not just cell phones. Computers are no better. What is so intuitive about having to click on a button marked Start in order to call up the menu item that stops your computer? (Credit where credit is due: I'm so conditioned to Windows that I didn't recognize that little anomaly. The MC TNT editor suggested it. I think she got it from her mother.) And another thing, why are they called menus? "Menu? Who needs a menu? I just want a tuna sandwich. A little mayo would be nice."
Beyond intuitiveness, there are practical matters to consider when designing products for people of a certain age. Their eyes aren't as good as they used to be. People don't believe me, but my eyesight varies greatly from day to day. Some days, I have no problem reading without reading glasses. Other days, if I go into a restaurant with my contact lenses in, but without reading glasses, I have to ask someone to stand on the other side of the room and hold up the menu so that I can read it. On those days, if I don't have my contacts in, I can't get the menu close enough unless I get a nose job. There is an upside--I also can't read the bill. My point is, if you are going to build technology that requires the reading of particularly small text, don't count on selling it to many people over 50.
Sight isn't the only thing that declines as we age. No, I'm not talking about Viagra. Get your mind out of the gutter. I was referring to hearing. The stereotype of seniors is that they don't like loud music. That's probably frequently true, but they also usually don't hear as well as they used to. If your product has an audio component, make sure that it has a good volume control with a wide range.
As much as I'd like everything to be totally intuitive, that's probably impossible. A short manual may be necessary. When writing a manual for seniors, remember that they have not grown up with your vernacular. I'm not talking about the current teenybopper lingo. You'll probably recognize and avoid that jargon. No, what I'm talking about are little things. For example, don't say something like "hit the such-and-such key." After several hours of struggling to figure out how to use your unintuitive technology and read your small print, older people are likely to take you literally and beat the crap out of that poor such-and-such key. Then again, considering the way much technology is designed today, my pacifism aside, it probably deserves it.
Joel Klebanoff is a consultant, a writer, and president of Klebanoff Associates, Inc., a Toronto, Canada-based marketing communications firm. Joel has 25 years experience working in IT, first as a programmer/analyst and then as a marketer. He holds a Bachelor of Science in computer science and an MBA, both from the University of Toronto. Contact Joel at
Joel Klebanoff is a consultant, writer, and formerly president of Klebanoff Associates, Inc., a Toronto-based marketing communications firm. He has 30 years' experience in various IT capacities and now specializes in writing articles, white papers, and case studies for IT vendors and publications across North America. Joel is also the author of BYTE-ing Satire, a compilation of a year's worth of his columns. He holds a BS in computer science and an MBA, both from the University of Toronto.
MC Press books written by Joel Klebanoff available now on the MC Press Bookstore.
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