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From Triple Win to Triple Sin: How a Problematic Future Discourse is Shaping the Way People Age with Technology

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  • Louis Neven

    (Active Ageing Research Group, Avans University of Applied Sciences, 4800 RA Breda, The Netherlands.)

  • Alexander Peine

    (Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, 3512 JE Utrecht, The Netherlands)

Abstract

This essay provides a critical analysis of the ageing-and-innovation discourse. The ageing-and-innovation discourse is a key rhetorical structure that legitimizes very large investments in technologies for older people. In this discourse, ageing is positioned as an imminent crisis that will affect whole societies, both socially and economically. Investing in technological solutions is, in turn, positioned as a solution that generates benefits on a societal, economical and individual level. This discourse is used to legitimize investment, rally support and reduce uncertainty. We contend that there are three problems with the ageing-and-innovation discourse. First, it legitimizes investment in every technology for older people and thus provides no means of discriminating between useful and non-useful technologies. Second, this discourse presupposes a very negative view of ageing that jars with the positive view of ageing that many older people have, which, in turn, leads to problems with acceptance of these technologies. Third, the ageing-and-innovation discourse creates a moral high ground that makes it hard for opponents to disagree with this discourse. The ageing-and-innovation discourse is a successful rhetorical device, but it ultimately hinders the development of suitable technologies that fit in with the lives of older people and thus needs to be reconsidered by scientists, policy makers and industry.

Suggested Citation

  • Louis Neven & Alexander Peine, 2017. "From Triple Win to Triple Sin: How a Problematic Future Discourse is Shaping the Way People Age with Technology," Societies, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-11, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:7:y:2017:i:3:p:26-:d:112133
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Florian Kohlbacher & Cornelius Herstatt (ed.), 2011. "The Silver Market Phenomenon," Springer Books, Springer, edition 2, number 978-3-642-14338-0, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Ulrike Bechtold & Natalie Stauder & Martin Fieder & Harald Wilfing, 2022. "Stuck in the Present: A Human Lack of Ability to Visualise (Different) Needs in the Future May Hamper Timely Implementation of AAL and Supportive Technology," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-14, June.
    2. Björn Fischer & Britt Östlund & Nicole K. Dalmer & Andrea Rosales & Alexander Peine & Eugène Loos & Louis Neven & Barbara Marshall, 2021. "Co-Design as Learning: The Differences of Learning When Involving Older People in Digitalization in Four Countries," Societies, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-16, June.
    3. Ulrike Bechtold & Natalie Stauder & Martin Fieder, 2021. "Let’s Walk It: Mobility and the Perceived Quality of Life in Older Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-14, November.
    4. Theodore Koutroukis & Dimos Chatzinikolaou & Charis Vlados & Victoria Pistikou, 2022. "The Post-COVID-19 Era, Fourth Industrial Revolution, and New Globalization: Restructured Labor Relations and Organizational Adaptation," Societies, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-17, December.
    5. Carla Greubel & Ellen H. M. Moors & Alexander Peine, 2021. "From Mattering to Mattering More: ‘Goods’ and ‘Bads’ in Ageing and Innovation Policy Discourses," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-20, July.
    6. Hsu, Eric L. & Elliott, Anthony & Ishii, Yukari & Sawai, Atsushi & Katagiri, Masataka, 2020. "The development of aged care robots in Japan as a varied process," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    7. James Wright, 2021. "The Alexafication of Adult Social Care: Virtual Assistants and the Changing Role of Local Government in England," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-12, January.
    8. Lucie Vidovićová & Tereza Menšíková, 2023. "Materiality, Corporeality, and Relationality in Older Human–Robot Interaction (OHRI)," Societies, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-13, January.
    9. Hanna Köttl & Ella Cohn-Schwartz & Liat Ayalon & Deborah S Carr, 2021. "Self-Perceptions of Aging and Everyday ICT Engagement: A Test of Reciprocal Associations [Risk profiles for mild cognitive impairment and progression to dementia are gender specific]," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 76(9), pages 1913-1922.
    10. Jyoti Choudrie & Efpraxia Zamani & Chike Obuekwe, 2022. "Bridging the Digital Divide in Ethnic Minority Older Adults: an Organisational Qualitative Study," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 1355-1375, August.
    11. Vera Gallistl & Rebekka Rohner & Alexander Seifert & Anna Wanka, 2020. "Configuring the Older Non-User: Between Research, Policy and Practice of Digital Exclusion," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(2), pages 233-243.
    12. Eija Kärnä & Lotta Aavikko & Rebekka Rohner & Vera Gallistl & Kaisa Pihlainen & Claudia Müller & Anja Ehlers & Roberta Bevilacqua & Stefano Strano & Elvira Maranesi & Katerina Cerna & Lisa Hengl & Fra, 2022. "A Multilevel Model of Older Adults’ Appropriation of ICT and Acquisition of Digital Literacy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-14, November.
    13. Barbara L. Marshall & Nicole K. Dalmer & Stephen Katz & Eugene Loos & Daniel López Gómez & Alexander Peine, 2022. "Digitization of Aging-in-Place: An International Comparison of the Value-Framing of New Technologies," Societies, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-14, February.
    14. Lehoux, P. & Grimard, D., 2018. "When robots care: Public deliberations on how technology and humans may support independent living for older adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 330-337.

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    Keywords

    ageing; innovation; rhetoric;
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