The tech user experience – still flawed and in need of fixing. As noted in the May report, The User Experience Needs an Upgrade, the requirement to use smartphones and other tech is growing exponentially – in-person and by-telephone experiences have disappeared or deteriorated. Yet there are few useful ways to help older adults navigate the thicket of user interfaces, and this only becomes more obvious as AI capabilities emerge that could be extremely useful, but finding and understanding them is, well, work. Frustration bubbles up here and there – AARP’s 2024 Tech Trends and Adults 50+ noted that only 61% of adults aged 70+ felt they had the digital skills to fully take advantage of being online.
An old report, the core concept of Connected Living was excellent and predictive. Thirteen years ago, AARP sponsored research that posed questions about technology’s future role in connecting older adults with families, resources and each other. With input from 30 industry experts, the research attempted to determine how technology could better serve older adults moving forward. The result was a 2011 report called Connected Living for Social Aging: Designing Technology for All. You won’t find it on AARP’s website – it’s too old. But it is very interesting, especially given that year's low technology adoption and extremely limited use among older adults compared to today. The report accurately predicted the major role technology would take in their lives as they aged, though experts were not exactly sure how.
Baby boomers and beyond increasingly depend on technology -- but using it has become a chore of fragmentation across devices and websites.
As the pace of inevitable tech change collides with an aging demographic, firms will need to seek user input, especially in healthcare. Accessibility features will become standard technology features.”
The tech user experience for all ages is mostly depressing. A few delighters here and there break up a constant struggle to produce the right command, find the right part of the right website, and overcome the insanity of bug-fixing updates after updates. And that is if you are well-trained and proficient. Whether it is a phone, a tablet, or a much-needed website, we curse and complain – and then there’s another software update and a new set of complaints. We struggle with appliance and car interfaces, trying to understand the rationale for buttons and screens that are cluttered with too much information. Stay tuned for the May, 2024 report about these user experiences and what can be done to improve them. The April blogs:
What happens when engineers believe that no matter what, the customers will buy? Rant on. Look at the forum discussions of problems after Apple’s release in November, or consider Google’s Gemini self-humiliation. Will users turn in their iPhones in disgust? Stop using Gmail in protest? What about the Tesla that is so cool it does not have to identify clearly how to open the door, or put the car into drive or reverse? Was the car returned? Will customers return a device they don’t understand? Consider Windows 11 updates are tormenting users, again per Microsoft’s own forum. Will people give up using the PC? Not likely.
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Has the tech user experience substantially improved? For years device and software tech ‘improved’ to a point of widespread optimism about our tech future. Certainly access has improved: Ninety-five percent of Americans use the Internet and more than 80% have broadband at home. Today there are numerous programs to subsidize access, and smartphone penetration has exceeded 92%. One would believe this ubiquity of access might make us hopeful that we are now in the era of tech helping consumers of all ages, no matter what task or level of knowledge.
The tech user experience – still flawed and in need of fixing. As noted in the May report, 
An old report, the core concept of Connected Living was excellent and predictive. Thirteen years ago, AARP sponsored research that posed questions about technology’s future role in connecting older adults with families, resources and each other. With input from 30 industry experts, the research attempted to determine how technology could better serve older adults moving forward. The result was a 2011 report called 
The tech user experience for all ages is mostly depressing. A few delighters here and there break up a constant struggle to produce the right command, find the right part of the right website, and overcome the insanity of bug-fixing updates after updates. And that is if you are well-trained and proficient. Whether it is a phone, a tablet, or a much-needed website, we curse and complain – and then there’s another software update and a new set of complaints. We struggle with appliance and car interfaces, trying to understand the rationale for buttons and screens that are cluttered with too much information. Stay tuned for the May, 2024 report about these user experiences and what can be done to improve them. The April blogs:
What happens when engineers believe that no matter what, the customers will buy? Rant on. Look at the forum 
The decline of design. As interviews proceed for the upcoming report, The Future of the Tech User Experience, all agree. The deteriorating user experience, aka UX, is the result of 
Has the tech user experience substantially improved? For years device and software tech ‘improved’ to a point of widespread optimism about our tech future. Certainly access has improved: Ninety-five percent of Americans use the Internet and more than 80% have broadband at home. Today there are numerous programs to subsidize access, and 
Tech user experiences are deteriorating at a rapid rate – for all. If you have encountered any of the following, you know. The 