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Gero-Technology: Old Age in the Electronic Jungle

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Old Age In Europe

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Aging ((BRIEFSAGING))

Abstract

Gero-technology refers to the design and use of technologies that both promote independence and autonomy in old age and strengthen the support networks of older people. A central concept in gero-technology in Europe today is Ambient Assisted Living (AAL), which describes technology that helps older people to live an active life and remain socially included. It is assumed that technology can help to alleviate the increasing need for care-givers for older people.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The term was most probably introduced in the “Newsweek” to indicate elder abandonment: “No hard statistics have been collected, but in a recent survey by the Senate Aging Committee, 38 % of the hospitals responding said they had received reports of such ‚elder abandonments’”. An informal survey by the American College of Emergency Physicians last May found similar figures; some doctors reported as many as eight elderly patients dumped on their emergency wards every week” (Beck and Gordon 1991, p. 64). The term, however, received much more attention worldwide with an article in the New York Times: “Although precise numbers are not available, the American College of Emergency Physicians surveyed hospitals and concluded that up to 70,000 elderly parents were abandoned last year by family members who were unable or unwilling to care for them any longer” (Egan 1992). This calculation was wrong, the survey misinterpreted, and there are rarely any “true” cases of such elder abandonment documented in the literature, but the metaphor is still very common as a threat of the future of family support for older people [see Künemund (2008a) for a more detailed account].

  2. 2.

    For details on the German Aging Survey see Kohli and Künemund (2000) and Motel-Klingebiel et al. (2010). Although there are variations in levels and speed between European countries, the general pattern is obviously not limited to Germany (cf. for example Peacock and Künemund 2007, Gilleard and Higgs 2008, Wagner et al. 2010).

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Recommended Readings

  • Burdick, D.C., & Kwan, S. (Eds.) (2004). Gerotechnology: research and practice in technology and aging. New York: Springer. This book gives an overview of ideas and applications of gero-technology.

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  • Sixsmith, A. (Ed.) (forthcoming). Technology for active aging. New York: Springer. This volume discusses how gero-technology can be used to facilitate active ageing.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Gerontology, University of Vechta, Vechta, Germany

    Harald Künemund & Nele Tanschus

Authors
  1. Harald Künemund
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  2. Nele Tanschus
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Harald Künemund .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Umeå University, Department of Sociology, Vindarnas Trog 1, Umeå, 901 87, Sweden

    Kathrin Komp

  2. , Faculty of Social Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1081, Amsterdam, 1081 HV, Netherlands

    Marja Aartsen

Check Your Progress: A Quiz on Gero-Technology

Check Your Progress: A Quiz on Gero-Technology

Question 7.1: Which of the following are examples of gero-technology? (multiple answers possible)

  1. (a)

    Spoken messages that remind older people to take their medicines

  2. (b)

    Volunteers who help older people shop for computers

  3. (c)

    A carpet that recognizes when somebody falls

  4. (d)

    Alarm buttons

  5. (e)

    All of the above

Question 7.2: How are technologies called that support older people in their homes in an unobtrusive way?

  1. (a)

    Supportive technologies

  2. (b)

    Technology supported living

  3. (c)

    Smart homes

  4. (d)

    Smart assisted living

  5. (e)

    Ambient Assisted Living

Question 7.3: Which mechanism explains decreasing familial support when technology advances?

  1. (a)

    Crowding in

  2. (b)

    Crowding out

  3. (c)

    Bringing in

  4. (d)

    Bringing out

  5. (e)

    Supplementation

Question 7.4: Why might older people have problems with gero-technology? (multiple answers possible)

  1. (a)

    They might not understand what it is good for

  2. (b)

    They might perceive it as an intrusion into privacy

  3. (c)

    They might not understand it

  4. (d)

    It might be too expensive for them

  5. (e)

    All of the above

Question 7.5: In which parts of Europe do particularly many older people use the internet?

  1. (a)

    Continental and Eastern Europe

  2. (b)

    Continental and Northern Europe

  3. (c)

    Southern and Eastern Europe

  4. (d)

    Continental and Southern Europe

  5. (e)

    There are hardly any country-differences in the internet use among older Europeans

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Künemund, H., Tanschus, N. (2013). Gero-Technology: Old Age in the Electronic Jungle. In: Komp, K., Aartsen, M. (eds) Old Age In Europe. SpringerBriefs in Aging. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6134-6_7

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