“Why Don’t They Just Ask Us?”
Exploring Technology with Older Adults

Yesterday I had a fabulous time talking about creativity, research, and technology with some dynamic humans.
The conversation started off a little bit awkward: “Are you selling us something?” As I reassured them I was there to have a discussion and to ask some questions, they relaxed and leaned forward.
We talked robots, virtual reality, augmented reality, and communication. We laughed about some of the wild solutions and critiqued some of the current use-cases brought to market.
When I put a VR headset on and described what I was seeing, they expressed awe paired with infectious giggles at how silly I looked. (I agree…the headset does look pretty goofy!)

As with any conversation, once laughter enters the room, things loosen up and people feel more comfortable sharing their true selves and more connected as a group (Navarro, del Moral, & Marijuán, 2016). Once they had laughed at me with the headset on, and at my hair when I removed the headset, they started asking big questions. I’ll save the specifics for future publications, but in general they wondered:
Why don’t people ask us what we think?
Why aren’t they solving the problems we want solved?
Why don’t we have a better solution for (XYZ problem)?
Why are they creating expensive things for problems we don’t have, and ignoring the simple things that would improve our lives?
Wow.
I wish I had some good answers for them. Unfortunately, I think the answer comes down to one word: ageism. There is a widespread assumption that the ability to contribute to innovation and knowledge has an expiration date. Somehow we’ve internalized this idea. We imagine that only young, new minds can provide insight. The Green Eggs & Ham Hypothesis (Haught-Tromp, 2017) suggests constraint facilitates creativity. Older adults are constantly negotiating and readjusting to changing bodies, changing circumstances and have a life’s worth of experiences to draw from.
So here’s my challenge: I dare you to spend a day with older adults and continue to believe older adults can’t innovate. But here’s the catch: you can’t just walk in and sit. Or judge. You have to start asking questions. You have to go in humble and open-hearted.
I’d love to hear your stories about sharing technology and innovation with older adults. And elders, I’d really like to discuss your experiences of navigating in a world assuming tech is not for you.
