Digital exclusion in later life: A Maltese case study
- Exclusion
Who does this case study involve?
The Older Adults of Malta
The case
The widespread use of IT systems has resulted in profound changes in the way in which individuals, organizations, and governments interact. However, this means that the manner in which these IT systems are designed can create potentially insurmountable barriers for some people in their use, resulting in a digital divide between the ‘have’ and the ‘have nots’. One area of society where this divide is extremely pronounced is in the demographic of older people, which may result in significant forms of social exclusion, and their quality of life.
There are numerous reasons why this digital divide exists, including factors such as:
- Lack of exposure to IT systems over their lifetimes
- Lack of exposure to IT systems in their careers
- Their current income levels
- Lack of access to affordable IT training
- Acquired disabilities over their lifetimes
To explore whether these are the only factors of exclusion, a qualitative study using a series of semi-structured interviews was undertaken by the University of Malta, targeting older non-users of IT systems, to identify what leads to, and the effects of, digital exclusion in later life. The findings showed that, in this case, neither access to IT systems, nor costs were significant factors in their non-engagement in IT systems. In fact, a continuum of overlapping barriers contribute in this study to older people’s non-use of IT systems, including the following: believing that they were ‘too old’ to use new technologies; a lack of relevance or ‘life-fit’ of computers; perceived non-usefulness and difficulty to use; anxiety about computer usage; concern about security and privacy issues; and facing disability issues.
Findings
Although these factors focus on the individuals themselves, it is possible to infer design changes that should be made to IT systems (and the messaging around them) to make them less exclusionary. Some specific fears that need to be addressed to make systems more usable include:
- A fear expressed that they are too complex to use (this suggests UX improvements are needed).
- A feeling that they are not relevant to older people’s lives (this suggests that more relevant resources to these people need to be made easier to find).
- A fear expressed by many that pressing the wrong key may break the systems (this suggests that the robustness of modern IT systems needs to be promoted and even embodied in the interface of these systems).
- A concern about security and privacy issues (this suggests that better, more secure services should be made more prominent).
A series of challenges for people with disabilities (this suggests that interfaces need to be improved to be more flexible and eliminate the need for fine motor control and high visual acuity).
References
Formosa, M. (2013) “Digital exclusion in later life: A Maltese case-study“, Humanities and Social Sciences; 1(1): pp. 21-27.