IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i7p2690-d338638.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mobile Phone Use by the Elderly: Relationship between Usability, Social Activity, and the Environment

Author

Listed:
  • Juan Carlos Briede-Westermeyer

    (Department of Engineering Design, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa Maria, Avenida España 1680, 8320000 Valparaíso, Chile)

  • Bélgica Pacheco-Blanco

    (Department of Engineering Projects, Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera, s/n, E-46022 Valencia, Spain)

  • Marianela Luzardo-Briceño

    (Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana seccional Bucaramanga, Km. 7 vía a Piedecuesta, 681011 Floridablanca, Santander, Colombia)

  • Cristhian Pérez-Villalobos

    (Department of Medical Education, Universidad de Concepción, Janequeo 151, 4070386 Concepción, Chile)

Abstract

Mobile phones have caused diverging opinions regarding the change in communication patterns and the isolation among young people. However, in the case of the elderly, there are positive effects related to their use, their social activity, and their environmental awareness. This study connects these three variables beginning with the mobile telephone use by the elderly. A sample of 399 self-reliant elderly people was interviewed in Chile, where 159 had mobile phones. They answered the Usefulness, Satisfaction and Ease of Use Questionnaire (USE) and a series of questions about the environment and social life developed from previous studies. The results were analyzed using a multiple correspondence and correlation analysis. A high correlation between the three variables was found. Hence, a higher usability of mobile phones was associated with higher social activity and a higher environmental concern. These results showed that a design approach for the elderly could increase satisfaction regarding the use of a product and, as a result, improve communication with their social setting. From an environmental point of view, an indirect relationship was seen between the selection, use, and expectations of the end of life of the products.

Suggested Citation

  • Juan Carlos Briede-Westermeyer & Bélgica Pacheco-Blanco & Marianela Luzardo-Briceño & Cristhian Pérez-Villalobos, 2020. "Mobile Phone Use by the Elderly: Relationship between Usability, Social Activity, and the Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-14, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:7:p:2690-:d:338638
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/7/2690/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/7/2690/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peine, Alexander & Rollwagen, Ingo & Neven, Louis, 2014. "The rise of the “innosumer”—Rethinking older technology users," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 199-214.
    2. Bélgica Pacheco-Blanco & Mónica Martínez-Gómez & Daniel Collado-Ruiz & Salvador F. Capuz-Rizo, 2018. "Sustainable Information in Shoe Purchase Decisions: Relevance of Data Based on Source," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-15, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yongchuan Li & Salwa Hanim Abdul-Rashid & Raja Ariffin Raja Ghazilla, 2022. "Design Methods for the Elderly in Web of Science, Scopus, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure Databases: A Scientometric Analysis in CiteSpace," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-18, February.
    2. Ting Huang & Chengmin Zhou & Xin Luo & Jake Kaner, 2022. "Study of Ageing in Complex Interface Interaction Tasks: Based on Combined Eye-Movement and HRV Bioinformatic Feedback," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-12, December.
    3. Elizabeth Wianto & Elty Sarvia & Chien-Hsu Chen, 2021. "Authoritative Parents and Dominant Children as the Center of Communication for Sustainable Healthy Aging," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(6), pages 1-18, March.
    4. Blanka Klimova & Lukas Sanda, 2021. "A Novel Educational Smartphone Application for Cognitively Healthy Seniors: A Pilot Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-13, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ehrenhard, Michel & Kijl, Bjorn & Nieuwenhuis, Lambert, 2014. "Market adoption barriers of multi-stakeholder technology: Smart homes for the aging population," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 306-315.
    2. Carbajo, Ruth & Cabeza, Luisa F., 2018. "Renewable energy research and technologies through responsible research and innovation looking glass: Reflexions, theoretical approaches and contemporary discourses," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 792-808.
    3. Krzysztof Malik & Ewa Mikołajczak, 2019. "Senior Housing Universal Design as a Development Factor of Sustainable-Oriented Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-12, December.
    4. Kummitha, Rama Krishna Reddy, 2018. "Entrepreneurial urbanism and technological panacea: Why Smart City planning needs to go beyond corporate visioning?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 330-339.
    5. Harms, Rainer & Luck, Florian & Kraus, Sascha & Walsh, Steven, 2014. "On the motivational drivers of gray entrepreneurship: An exploratory study," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 358-365.
    6. Marikyan, Davit & Papagiannidis, Savvas & Alamanos, Eleftherios, 2019. "A systematic review of the smart home literature: A user perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 139-154.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:7:p:2690-:d:338638. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.