Abstract

Across the life course, new forms of community, ways of keeping in contact, and practices for engaging in work, healthcare, retail, learning and leisure are evolving rapidly. Breaking new ground in the study of technology and aging, this book examines how developments in smart phones, the internet, cloud computing, and online social networking are redefining experiences and expectations around growing older in the twenty-first century. Drawing on contributions from leading commentators and researchers across the world, this book explores key themes such as caregiving, the use of social media, robotics, chronic disease and dementia management, gaming, migration, and data inheritance, to name a few.

David Prendergast is a social anthropologist based at Intel Labs Europe and a Principal Investigator in the Intel Collaborative Research Institute for Sustainable Connected Cities with Imperial College and University College London. He also holds the position of Visiting Professor of Healthcare Innovation at Trinity College Dublin.

2016 CHOICE OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC TITLE

“Editors Prendergast and Garattini have done an outstanding job bringing to the forefront what it means to age in a digital world. They have broken new ground inasmuch as they explore an everyday phenomenon as an extension of the life course. This text provides a clear path to considering and possibly understanding multiple ways of knowing and assigning meaning to aging… Highly recommended.” • Choice

“…a candid look at how technology can and is being used in our aging society. Taken as a collection, these essays make a powerful case for the potential of thoughtful technologies to improve the quality of life of older adults, whether they are aging in place independently or being cared for by family or a professional caregiver.” • Huffington Post

“…this book gives a powerful takeaway thought for future research in the aging field: People want to focus on what they can do. Nobody of any age likes to feel they are a burden.” • Anthropology Notebooks

“[This volume] is unreservedly recommended as a critically important addition to both community and academic library collections.” • Midwest Book Review

“Aging and the Digital Life Course provides an interesting and often thought-provoking read… The editors have succeeded in assembling an engaging and effective compilation from amidst the range of material that might have been included. The authors write clearly and accessibly about their subjects, allowing a wide range of readers (e.g. policymakers, practitioners and academics in engineering, health and social care) to get quickly to grips with a huge diversity of facts and concepts… The chapters are factually well-informed and also theoretically articulated, although some stand out.” • Anthropology and Action

“This book presents us with an interesting study of how various technologies, including web-based tools and information and communication technologies, are embedded in particular social processes and experiences of aging and the life course. Instead of taking the usual position that ‘technology’ is something that is consumed and thrust upon us… this book shows how technologies are themselves a set of relations and processes that are open to change.” • Philip Kao, University of Pittsburgh

“…a comprehensive view of a topic that is becoming increasingly important in health care but is often misunderstood and/or undervalued. It presents the actual/potential use of technology for enhancing the lives of older people and their caregivers.” • Catherine McCabe, Trinity College Dublin

Chiara Garattini is an anthropologist working as part of the Health & Life Sciences group at Intel. Previously, she worked in the field of aging, technology, independent living and chronic illnesses as postdoctoral researcher and ethnography lead at the Technology Research for Independent Living Centre, University College Dublin.