In 2019, the number of people in the world aged over 65 was 703 million. By 2050, this number is projected to be 1.5 billion. However, it is not only the number of older persons but the proportion that is changing. Italy was the first country to experience a demographic milestone known as the ‘Historic Reversal', reporting in 1995 that the population of people aged 65 years and older outnumbered children under the age of 15 for the first time ever. By 2050, this number is expected to reach 90 countries. This social ‘megatrend' collides with another shifting paradigm: technological advancement, accelerating every year at an extraordinary pace. While this trend of continuous technological evolution is not developing uniformly around the world, the scope of potential support that new and emergent technologies can bring to older adults is enormous. This chapter explores key areas of consideration to ensure that the promise of the digital future is realised for older people and that it is an enabling force, rather than a barrier to enjoying a longer, more supported later life.
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The technology that we should be looking for is not one device at a time, but a new story. The new frontier in which we are all the pioneers is longevity, to live longer and better. This is not just a social need, but an amazing business opportunity as well. This is the longevity economy.
- Dr. Joseph Coughlin1
Youth is a cultural obsession that drives the social and economic machinery of modern life. Our dominant narratives are steeped in the desire for, and the aspirational value of, youth. This is particularly potent in the context of Western consumerism, wherein ‘old’ is set up as the ultimate foil to ‘young’. One simple way to structure something as ‘good’ or ‘desirable’ is to define and denigrate an opposite that is equally ‘bad’ and ‘undesirable’. These polarities make a useful shorthand language for advertisers to convince or remind us to buy their goods and services: to get the good and avoid the bad. In this context, ‘old’ is the negative antithesis to the positive ‘young’: insofar as the latter marks out beauty, energy, vitality, strength, vigour and the luxury of time, the former is saddled with images of frailty, weakness, tiredness, sickness and mortality itself. But over time, these cease being convenient marketing symbols and instead become permeating features of our cultural landscape that are so ubiquitous as to seem like the truth of ‘how things are’. In this youth-driven culture there are few stories more ripe for redefinition than the way we structure and relate to the idea of ageing. This is not just for reasons of factual accuracy or social justice but also for economic possibility. The need to communicate new stories about ageing and older people in general has never been greater because our flattened, one-dimensional ideas have never been more incorrect. As life expectancies increase and later life is stretched across multiple decades, the gap between these stories and reality grows. Rather than being understood as an opportunity for economic and social impact, the growing ageing population is viewed through a negative lens as a problem to be solved, or worse, avoided altogether. This chapter asks you to pull up a seat, listen and really hear a new story about life-affirming ageing in the era of technology.
A New Story: Life-Affirming Longevity As A Strategic Opportunity
Before diving into the specifics, let’s dwell for a moment on the idea of a new story. As previously mentioned, this chapter invites readers to consider certain assumptions and associations that often go unnoticed. Many of these identifications operate on an unconscious level; few of us consciously set out to perpetuate outdated beliefs and practices around age. While many of us, including those living our later years, may resist the thought that we have internalised negative ideas around ageing and later life, these natural fears and avoidances around ageing have become enmeshed in the very fabric of our daily life. These unconscious associations can mask strategic opportunities for innovation, investment and development of technology-enabled goods and services for ageing populations. Perhaps the failings of the broader cultural imagination about the possibility of life-affirming longevity are reflected in our ability to imagine certain possibilities beyond the present; perhaps not. Wherever you are situated, the authors hope you learn something. After all, the research shows that when it comes to technology, you can most definitely teach an old dog new tricks – it might just take a different approach than with a young dog.