Smartphones

Many of the research approaches to smartphones actually regard them as more or less transparent points of access to other kinds of communication experiences. That is, rather than considering the smartphone as something in itself, the researchers look at how individuals use the smartphone for their communicative purposes, whether these be talking, surfing the web, using on-line data access for off-site data sources, downloading or uploading materials, or any kind of interaction with social media. They focus not so much on the smartphone itself but on the activities that people engage in with their smartphones

Understanding and conceptualising the adoption, use and diffusion of mobile banking in older adults: A research agenda and conceptual framework

Mobile banking has become increasingly important to society; however, not all members of society adopt and/or use it as much as others: older adults, the disabled and lower-income families remain behind in their use and adoption of this service. This finding helped us recognise a research gap and led us to form our primary aim: to understand and explain the factors that influence the adoption, use and diffusion of mobile banking among one of those groups in particular, older adults, in the UK. To form a theoretical understanding, this paper presents a comprehensive review of the surrounding literature in the area and proposes a conceptual framework that can be used for future research. The implications of this research for academia and businesses are also provided in this paper

Fall Prediction and Prevention Systems: Recent Trends, Challenges, and Future Research Directions.

Fall prediction is a multifaceted problem that involves complex interactions between physiological, behavioral, and environmental factors. Existing fall detection and prediction systems mainly focus on physiological factors such as gait, vision, and cognition, and do not address the multifactorial nature of falls. In addition, these systems lack efficient user interfaces and feedback for preventing future falls. Recent advances in internet of things (IoT) and mobile technologies offer ample opportunities for integrating contextual information about patient behavior and environment along with physiological health data for predicting falls. This article reviews the state-of-the-art in fall detection and prediction systems. It also describes the challenges, limitations, and future directions in the design and implementation of effective fall prediction and prevention systems

Examining the relationship between different urbanization settings, smartphone use to access the Internet and trip frequencies

No abstract available

Understanding the Influencing Factors and Mechanism of Social Compensation for Chinese Older Adults Using Social Media in the Context of Smart Home: A Qualitative Analysis

As a new generation of necessary terminals for future homes, smart homes have become one of the essential mediums for smart aging at home. This paper aims to explore how older adults who age at home can overcome the digital divide of the new medium and achieve social participation in the home context to realize active aging. Based on the theory of social compensation, we select the smart-home smart screen, a representative new medium product in China, and carry out open coding, spindle coding, selective coding, and theoretical construction of the original interview data through the grounded theory research method. The results show that the main factors affecting the social compensation of older adults to smart home social media include user interface quality, interaction quality, content quality, and service quality, and these four factors are used as external variables to compensate older adults socially, thereby stimulating the emotional experience and perception changes at the cognitive level of older adults and then affecting the adoption and acceptance of smart home social media by older adults. This study refines the factors influencing the older adults' use of smart home social media from the perspective of social compensation. It explains the mechanism of acceptable behavior of older adults, bridging the gap in previous literature on the influencing factors and behavioral mechanisms of older adults of smart home social media. This paper provides a theoretical basis and guidance for the subsequent academic research and software development practice of social media under new technological devices to further help older adults in China achieve active and healthy aging

Acceso, uso y actitudes de Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación en personas mayores durante la pandemia de COVID-19

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the digital divide among older adults. Their everyday needs and mobility constraints forced them to go online, challenging older adults with limited access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and scarce digital abilities. Objective: This study explores factors influencing older adults' use and perception of ICTs during the pandemic. Methodology: We conducted a survey of vulnerable elderly individuals in Santiago, Chile (N=251) and followed up with face-to-face interviews with 20 participants. Results: The findings indicate that frequent smartphone use among older adults is positively correlated with their perception of comfort, usefulness, control over the device, and willingness to use it. Active users exhibit higher confidence levels and engage in a broader range of online activities, while moderate users feel less inclined to bridge the digital gap, experiencing a sense of exclusion. Conclusion: The study highlights the importance of perceived control in shaping smartphone usage among older adults and underscores the interplay between attitudes and technology adoption. Despite some limitations, this research offers valuable insights into the perspectives of non-users and proxy users, as well as the barriers to internet access during a crisis.Introducción: La pandemia de COVID-19 resaltó la brecha digital entre las Personas Mayores (PM). Sus necesidades cotidianas y las limitaciones de movilidad los obligaron a conectarse en línea. Esto desafió a las PM con acceso limitado a las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación (TIC) y escasas habilidades digitales. Objetivos: Este trabajo explora factores asociados al uso y percepción de TIC entre las PM en tiempos de COVID-19. Metodología: Realizamos una encuesta a personas mayores vulnerables en Santiago, Chile (N=251) y seguimos con entrevistas en profundidad a 20 participantes. Resultados: Los hallazgos sugieren que el uso frecuente de Smartphones entre las personas mayores está positivamente correlacionado con su percepción de comodidad, utilidad, control sobre el dispositivo y disposición para usarlo. Los usuarios activos muestran niveles de confianza más altos y participan en una gama más amplia de actividades en línea, mientras que los usuarios moderados se sienten menos inclinados a cerrar la brecha digital, experimentando una sensación de exclusión. Conclusión: El estudio destaca la importancia del control percibido en la configuración de los patrones de uso de Smartphones entre las personas mayores, resaltando la interacción entre las actitudes y la adopción de tecnología. A pesar de sus limitaciones, esta investigación proporciona información valiosa sobre las perspectivas de los no usuarios y los usuarios por proxy, y las barreras al acceso a Internet durante situaciones de crisis

Predictors of seniors’ interest in assistive applications on smartphones:Evidence from a population-based survey in Slovenia

Assistive applications (apps) on smartphones could contribute to a better quality of life for seniors living independently at home. At present, there is a lack of empirical evidence of seniors’ acceptance of such apps. The Cycle of Technology Acquirement by Independent-Living Seniors (C-TAILS) model was recently proposed for studying the interplay between acceptance factors by integrating the personal, social and technological domains of seniors’ daily lives. This study aimed to explore how four groups of factors, clustered in accordance with the C-TAILS model, predict seniors’ interest in assistive apps, on a representative sample of the Slovenian population aged 55 years or older. The 617 respondents, who were contacted though a telephone survey, answered a questionnaire about their interest in three groups of assistive apps and four groups of potentially associated acceptance factors. Three linear regression models were used to analyse the association between the factors and the seniors’ interest in the three types of assistive apps. Smartphone-related dispositional traits were the strongest predictors across all three models. Among mobile phone usage patterns, smartphone use and the breadth of mobile phone features used were significant factors, while the significance of seniors’ personal characteristics and socio-economic conditions varied across the models. Hence, awareness that these factors play different roles in the acceptance of different assistive apps is needed in order to design viable interventions for their acceptance among seniors

mHealth in China and the United States: How Mobile Technology is Transforming Healthcare in the World's Two Largest Economies

In this paper, we explore ways mobile technology can help with these difficulties. Specifically, we look at avenues through which mobile devices boost productivity, aid communications, and help providers improve affordability, access, and treatment. Using data drawn from China and the United States as well as global trends, we look at recent developments andemerging opportunities in mobile health, or mHealth. We argue that mobile technology assists patients, health providers, and policymakers in several different respects. It helps patients by giving them tools to monitor their health conditions and communicate those results to physicians. It enables health providers to connect with colleagues and offers alternative sources of information for patients. It is also an important tool to inform policymakers on health delivery and medical outcomes

Usage of Mobile Applications Amongst Older Adults: Retrospect and Prospect

Addressing age-specific issues related to IT usage is becoming increasingly significant. To consolidate the existing knowledge on the usage of mobile apps amongst older adults, this study synthesizes the research nature, patterns, and theoretical foundations in existing studies through a systematic literature review. Based on our investigation into the 22 identified articles, we find that previous studies on this topic focus mainly on app usage behaviors, app development and evaluation, and app usage learning and training. Prior studies are still fragmented and a more comprehensive and integrated framework is required to guide future research. Finally, we discuss the key antecedents of older adults’ app usage identified in reviewed articles and highlight seven heuristic topics with corresponding research questions for future research. Limitations of this review are also discussed

Synapse: Interactive Guidance by Demonstration with Trial-and-Error Support for Older Adults to Use Smartphone Apps

As smartphones are widely adopted, mobile applications (apps) are emerging to provide critical services such as food delivery and telemedicine. While bring convenience to everyday life, this trend may create barriers for older adults who tend to be less tech-savvy than young people. In-person or screen sharing support is helpful but limited by the help-givers' availability. Video tutorials can be useful but require users to switch contexts between watching the tutorial and performing the corresponding actions in the app, which is cumbersome to do on a mobile phone. Although interactive tutorials have been shown to be promising, none was designed for older adults. Furthermore, the trial-and-error approach has been shown to be beneficial for older adults, but they often lack support to use the approach. Inspired by both interactive tutorials and trial-and-error approach, we designed an app-independent mobile service, \textit{Synapse}, for help-givers to create a multimodal interactive tutorial on a smartphone and for help-receivers (e.g., older adults) to receive interactive guidance with trial-and-error support when they work on the same task. We conducted a user study with 18 older adults who were 60 and over. Our quantitative and qualitative results show that Synapse provided better support than the traditional video approach and enabled participants to feel more confident and motivated. Lastly, we present further design considerations to better support older adults with trial-and-error on smartphones