Addressing Fear and Lack of Knowledge of Older Adults Regarding Social Network Sites

Information and communication technologies (ICT) are shaping the world we live, collecting evermore user data. This development does not stop when it comes older adults, who often feel uncertainty and discomfort when using digital technology, although ICT could promote active aging and independence if done right. In this paper, the results of two workshops are presented which analyse and promote solutions to the problems and fears regarding Social Network Sites. We could show that lack of knowledge, especially regarding technical terms, fear regarding data privacy and uncertainty regarding computer usage were main hurdles to technology adoption. The results were used to develop a prototype which received high UEQ scores among older adults. The evaluation demonstrated that small interface changes can make a great difference in a system’s perception, that benefits of use could best be provided by using actual examples and revealed a dilemma in need for data. Furthermore, we found that older adults are suspicious when providing data but like the personalization they get, when exposing them.