More years, more technologies: Aging in the digital era

Today, people are enjoying longer lives, often without major disabilities (World Health Organization, 2015). For the disciplines of human and social sciences, the increased longevity opens a completely new horizon for investigating the role of new technologies in human lives; people living longer have many more years to experience increasingly frequent waves of innovation in technologies. Even though not all old people are active and independent users of digital technology, the amplitude of new devices, applications, and services targeted at a growing segment of older people is staggering. This special issue of Human Technology brings together six research articles that explore the role of digital health and communication technologies in later life. Amid the ongoing trends in aging, this area of research has been defined by the abundance of off-the-shelf products and emerging technologies, on the one hand, and a wide diversity in digital technology use among the older people on the other. Contemporary markets are targeting older consumers more than ever before (Gilleard, 2018). All sorts of traditional and new digital solutions—ranging from simple walking sticks and ergonomic chairs to senior phones, alarm pendants, and smart home and telecare systems—are available in the marketplace to facilitate successful aging and autonomous living, whether in institutional care, home-like environments, or at home. At the individual level, people’s longer lives are influenced by and integrated with digital technologies to varying extents. Hence, it can be argued that the principle of aged heterogeneity (Nelson & Dannefer, 1992), proposing that old people constitute a more diverse group in terms of their physiological, psychological, social, and functional traits than young people, also manifests itself with respect to the adoption and use of digital technologies. Through research, the considerable variation in older people’s personal