Xu Heng, Xie Bo, Chang Chu-Hsiang
Department of Management, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States.
School of Nursing and School of Information, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States.
Work Aging Retire. 2023 Dec 19;10(1):1-5. doi: 10.1093/workar/waad030. eCollection 2024 Jan.
In recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic and other global crises have significantly affected the lives of older adults, impacting their healthcare, social connections, and daily routines. While the increasing digitization and automation of services offer benefits such as remote healthcare access and reduced isolation, these technologies also pose challenges in terms of unfamiliarity, learning curves, and privacy and security concerns. Addressing these issues requires a collaborative approach across various fields, including health informatics, gerontology, social psychology, human-computer interaction, and cybersecurity and privacy. Understanding the cognitive, emotional, and sociocultural factors influencing older adults' use of technologies is crucial for creating inclusive and accessible digital tools. This multidisciplinary effort, as highlighted in the special issue of Work, Aging and Retirement, aims to enhance our understanding of aging and technology in today's world, empowering older adults to remain connected and maintain their well-being.
近年来，新冠疫情和其他全球危机严重影响了老年人的生活，对他们的医疗保健、社会联系和日常生活产生了影响。虽然服务日益数字化和自动化带来了诸如远程医疗保健接入和减少孤独感等好处，但这些技术在不熟悉程度、学习曲线以及隐私和安全问题方面也带来了挑战。解决这些问题需要跨多个领域采取协作方法，包括健康信息学、老年医学、社会心理学、人机交互以及网络安全和隐私领域。了解影响老年人技术使用的认知、情感和社会文化因素对于创建包容性和可及性的数字工具至关重要。正如《工作、老龄化与退休》特刊所强调的，这项多学科努力旨在增进我们对当今世界老龄化与技术的理解，使老年人能够保持联系并维持其幸福感。
