New Technology for the Young at Heart

Wii Bowling

Just because your grandparents may not have a Facebook or Twitter account, doesn't mean they're not just as hip and accepting to technology as you are. Lately there have been several advances in technology for the aging population.

My first recollection of technology being introduced and targeted for would be the LifeCall commercials, but they made advancements in a short period of time. For example, a few years ago I remembered seeing commercials for the "Jitterbug"(now known as GreatCall) cell phone. It was targeted toward the elderly population. They purposefully made the phone highly specialized with big buttons and few functions (other than making phone calls) to ensure simplicity and being a user friendly device. But they certainly haven't stopped at that, now this phone offers a service called "Live Nurse". The phone's owner has access to medical resources is able to call 24 hours a day 7 days a week to and have their medical questions answered. A handy service especially if the owner is living alone. There is also a function on the mobile phone that allows them to set reminders for their medications.

Now grandpa and grandma can get cell phones that help them send text messages. This article from Wired.com is about a cell phone that has all sorts of hand things for elderly people whom need a cell phone. But doesn't hide the applications in hard to navigate menus. Instead they use big easy to find buttons to make phone calls that also repeat the number back to you when you press it, a flashlight, and an FM radio that can be turned on by the push of a single button. There is also a big orange button the back of the phone; this is an emergency button that allows the owner to program the number to a friend or family's number.

Contrary to popular stereotypes, elderly persons are quite open to adding technology to their care plans. This not only allows them to stay in their homes longer, it allows them to live with limited assistance from caregivers. A report by the AARP asked both caregivers and people aged 65+, about home safety, monitoring, communications and their willingness to use it. The response was postive in that it showed a growing level of awareness and level of willingness to use safety devices.

"Home safety, monitoring, and communications technology are coming of age at a key time for a new generation caring for their loved ones," said Jody Holtzman, AARP Senior Vice President for Thought Leadership. "This could be the first generation of caregivers for whom technology could provide seamless access to communications and real time information about how well their loved ones are doing as they continue to live on their own. The data from "Healthy@Home 2.0" demonstrate that the needs, awareness, interest and ability to pay are substantial."


So although grandma and grandpa may not understand what the hashtag is for in Twitter posts, or why on earth you need to text so much, they are, albeit slowly, jumping on the technology bandwagon. 

Racial Divisons

Facebook vs. MySpace

Our last classroom discussion about homophily and racial divides in the online world was what prompted me to write this week's blog post. I once had an account on MySpace. I created my account in 2006 when I was a counselor at North Dakota Girls State. I worked with girls from around the state and throughout the week had become friends with many of them. At the end of the week they insisted that everyone get a MySpace account to keep in touch.

Soon after, Facebook accounts became available to high school students who didn't have an .edu e-mail address, and thus began an exodus from MySpace to Facebook. Not all my friends made with switch at the same time. Many just recently started using Facebook instead of Myspace stating that they enjoyed the ability to personalize their page with a background and music and more information about who they where.  It was these exact reasons that I preferred Facebook. I found all the different backgrounds and glitter texts to be nauseating as well as a sensory overload. I felt Facebook was more streamlined and simple and required less upkeep than a Facebook page.

Minorities on Facebook

This article from switched.com features quotes from Boyd’s article and offers an example of the racial divide that Boyd was addressing in her theory. In 2009 the New York Times ran an article called “Do You Know Anyone Still On MySpace?” However at the time that the article was published, statistically, Myspace and Facebook had the same number of members. But because most of the staff at the New York Times was on Facebook they assumed that the rest of their readers were too.  

However I can’t help but think that maybe the switch had something to do with the fact that Facebook was a concept first introduced at Harvard. Harvard is a historically and predominantly white school, next it was introduced to Ivy Leauge schools then top tier schools, could the fact that many of the people that were first using Facebook were white have something to do with the major move of white people from MySpace to Facebook.  

This article published February 14, 2011 at PsychCentral.com found that not only was there a racial divide in social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace but also in online dating sites. Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley looked at more than a million profiles from a variety of online dating sites. On their profiles members were able to choose if they wanted to be matched with people of their same race, a different race or if they would date a member of any race.

"They learned that whites overwhelmingly prefer to date members of their own race, while blacks, especially men are far more likely to cross the race barrier."

With further exploration of their data they found 

Interracial Marriage

that whites more than blacks, women more than men and old more than young participants stated a preference for a partner of the same race. 

But according to the most recent census and this CNN article, interracial marriages are at an all time high. Apparently, race is mattering less and less these days. Pew researchers are reporting that one in eight marriages are interracial or inter-ethnic. Studies have shown that support for interracial marriages is also increasing significantly. Among 18- to 29-year-olds, about 85% accept interracial marriages, according to a Pew study published in February. 

So although we, as a country, may not have reached complete acceptance of dating and friendship (consciously or subconsciously) the trend seems to be we are certainly on the way. 

Taking Facebook At Face Value

Facebook Depression

It seemed like parents had enough on their plate when it came to raising children, but with another advance in technology comes one more thing parents need to be aware of. "Facebook depression" has become a real illness, and those most at risk are young adolescents.  The teen years can be a crucial time in the development of who they are, and social networking sites like Facebook can both help, but more often, hinder this development. 


The older articles I researched, like this 2009 post on ReadWriteWeb, seemed to think Facebook depression was limited to teenage girls.

Teens and Facebook

 "The Journal of Adolescence, showed that the girls who excessively talked with their friends about their issues had significantly higher levels of depression...they [social networking sites] allowed the girls to discuss the same problems over and over again. This caused them to get stuck obsessing over a particular emotional setback, unable to move forward."


In my opinion, girls' talking to their friends about their problems is just a part of growing up. Who hasn't sat on the phone for an hour to talk about what happened that day and what the latest scandal in the middle school was. But the point of this study is that social networking sites allow them to dwell on hurtful topics longer than is healthy. Later, the author of the study clarified that Facebook was not the focus of the study but rather social networking in general. 


Now the discussion has moved passed teenage girls being at risk for Facebook depression and has expanded to all adolescents. When teenagers spend too much time on Facebook, they tend to show classic signs of depression. Teenagers can spend lots of time viewing hurtful wall posts, finding out people have defriended them (which to a teenager can be devastating), and feeling that everyone's lives seem to be somehow of better quality on Facebook. Because they have access to Facebook all the time, this can lead to anxiety and not getting enough sleep which pediatrician Rana Pascoe says, in this article in the Baltimore Sun, can lead to depression. 


"Sometimes just even their status, if they are involved with someone or not involved with someone or I'm unfriending people, you know I'm mad at you so I'm going to unfriend you so that can lead to hurt feelings," Dr. Pascoe said. "Especially for younger kids."

Facebook Depression

If adolescents are exposed to such negative experiences with social media they may never be able to see its benefits. Moderation, as it is with many things is key. Parents need to monitor how much time their child is spending on Facebook and determine a healthy amount of time to be online. Also, parents need to watch for changes in moods, sleeping and eating habits and also a change in friends to detect any possible signs of Facebook depression.