Are Smartphones Ubiquitous?: An in-depth survey of smartphone adoption by seniors
Open accessAbstract
Substantial ongoing research now uses smartphones as a research platform for various studies and interventions. With the aging population becoming a frequent focus of research, an increasing number of studies and projects attempt to develop technological interventions for the elderly population. The extent to which the elderly population (i.e., seniors) adopts and uses smartphones is not clear. Many studies acknowledge that today's seniors are not particularly keen on using smartphones, but in the near future we can expect this trend to change.
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In a systematic review of published literature from Europe, North America and Asia, Berenguer and Colleagues (2017) found that in general, older people showed substantial barriers to smartphone adoption.
“In a systematic review of published literature from Europe, North America and Asia, Berenguer and Colleagues (2017) found that in general, older people showed substantial barriers to smartphone adoption.”
From Perception of providers on use of the WHO mental health Gap Action Programme-Intervention Guide (mhGAP-IG) electronic version and smartphone-based clinical guidance in Nigerian primary care settings (2022) · cites this paper as [24]
In “The Spread of Smartphones” (p. 105), the paper describes older adults’ reluctance to adopt smartphones and names financial limitations, vision impairment, and lack of interest or know-how. It calls its work a systematic survey of adoption statistics, rather than a systematic review of published literature on barriers; the passages available do not establish the claimed coverage of Europe, North America, and Asia. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredTime and work-related conflict as well as limited familiarity with smartphone use especially by older health care workers have often been reported in the global literature as key barriers to deployment of mobile technology.
“Time and work-related conflict as well as limited familiarity with smartphone use especially by older health care workers have often been reported in the global literature as key barriers to deployment of mobile technology.”
From Perception of providers on use of the WHO mental health Gap Action Programme-Intervention Guide (mhGAP-IG) electronic version and smartphone-based clinical guidance in Nigerian primary care settings (2022) · cites this paper as [24]
In “The Spread of Smartphones” (p. 105), the paper reports that older adults may be reluctant to adopt smartphones partly because of a lack of know-how. It does not address time or work-related conflict, older health care workers specifically, or barriers to deploying mobile technology in health care. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredAccording to the same study, those adopting smartphones often use it for calls and text messaging, and rarely did they use downloaded applications [24].
“According to the same study, those adopting smartphones often use it for calls and text messaging, and rarely did they use downloaded applications [24].”
From Perception of providers on use of the WHO mental health Gap Action Programme-Intervention Guide (mhGAP-IG) electronic version and smartphone-based clinical guidance in Nigerian primary care settings (2022) · cites this paper as [24]
The opening summary (p. 104) says seniors who adopt smartphones tend to use them as feature phones and do not adopt services popular among younger users. That supports the general pattern, but it does not specifically establish frequent calls and texts or rare use of downloaded applications. (LLM, conf=0.78)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredA review of available statistics and evidence of smartphone use among elderly people demonstrated that they use a smartphone for making calls but rarely use downloaded apps.
“Similarly, our results also support the findings of the review of available statistics and evidence of smartphone use among elderly people which demonstrated that they use a smartphone for making calls but rarely did they utilized downloaded apps [47].”
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Cites
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Interactions with and through mobile phones : what about the elderly population?
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Pokhrel, P., Karmacharya, R., Taylor Salisbury, T., Carswell, K., Kohrt, B. A., Jordans, M. J. D., Lempp, H., Thornicroft, G., & Luitel, N. P. (2021) · BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making · doi:10.1186/s12911-021-01386-0 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Berenguer, A., Goncalves, J., Hosio, S., Ferreira, D., Anagnostopoulos, T., & Kostakos, V.
- Affiliations
- University of Oulu (FI)
- Ordnance Survey (GB)
- Venue
- IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine
- Published
- 2017-01
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 104-110
- ISSN
- 2162-2248 (ISSN-L)
- 2162-2256
- OpenAlex
- W2563775695
- Cited by
- 150
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 28 · 2019: 24 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 7
- FWCI
- 37.46
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- zenodo.org
- Locations
- IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine (publishedVersion)
- Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- European Commission
- University of Bath
- Academy of Finland
- Oulun Yliopisto
- Universidade da Madeira
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Demography › Technology Use by Older Adults
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Information Systems and Management › Technology Adoption and User Behaviour
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
- Keywords
- smartphones, smartphone adoption, older adults, population aging, technology adoption, mobile health intervention, ubiquitous computing
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