Technology is supposed to make our lives easier. Yet increasingly, it seems determined to make everyday tasks more complicated, particularly for seniors. As both a senior and tech professional, these issues are so obvious, yet apparently not to those designing the products – everyone from product designers to graphic artists to software engineers.
Consider this one little annoyance that would be simple and free to fix. Look on the back of your credit card for the customer service phone number. It’s printed in an incredibly tiny font for no reason whatsoever. There’s plenty of room to make it three times the size. And most every brand of card is the same. No one thinks of seniors.
But it’s much worse. We’ve replaced straightforward ways of doing things with elaborate digital procedures that often require a smartphone, an app, an account, a password, and a credit card. Then there are those instances where we’re subjected to very complex ways of doing things that used to be simple.
Consider parking in lot. What used to take 30 seconds can now take 10 minutes. We used to take a ticket or put coins into a meter in seconds without thinking. Today, you may find a sign instructing you to scan a QR code that takes you to a website where you’re asked to download an app, create an account, verify your email address, enter your license plate number and parking space number, and register a credit card. All this to park for an hour in some random lot that you might never use again! To park you must have a smartphone, a cellular connection, and the the basic skills to use them. Those seniors without a smartphone or technical skills are out of luck.
Restaurants have adopted a similar approach. Instead of handing you a menu, some provide a QR code. You must retrieve your phone, open the camera, scan the code, and read a menu on a small screen.
But the problems extend far beyond parking lots and restaurants. Televisions have become another example of technology going backward. Turning on a television once required pressing a button. Today, you have a remote control with dozens of buttons. Press the wrong one and you may go to a setting that’s impossible to back out of. For other activities you may need to navigate multiple screens, dismiss advertisements, select an input, and find the correct streaming service.
Home appliances are following the same path. Washing machines, ovens, and thermostats increasingly substitute touchscreens and cryptic symbols for physical knobs and switches. A simple dial provides immediate feedback. A touchscreen may require navigating several menus just to change a temperature..
Medical offices increasingly require patients to use online portals, remember passwords, complete electronic questionnaires, and repeatedly enter information already in their records. For an older patient dealing with a medical concern, the added complexity can be particularly stressful.
Concerts, theaters, and sporting events often require digital tickets. Instead of presenting a printed ticket, you may need to download an app, sign in, retrieve the ticket, and display a moving barcode. If your phone battery dies or the app fails, you have a problem that never existed with paper tickets.
And the consequences extend beyond just seniors. Anyone with poor eyesight, limited dexterity, a temporary injury, a dead phone battery, or an unreliable internet connection can encounter the same difficulties. The technology industry thinks making an app for something is progress.
But adding technology isn’t the same as improving a product. Good design begins with understanding the customer. It recognizes that people have different abilities, experiences, and preferences. It minimizes the steps required to accomplish a task and provides clear feedback along the way.
Too often, today’s products are designed by young engineers for other young engineers, with little consideration for the millions of older people who must use them. The irony is that seniors represent a substantial market with considerable purchasing power. Yet companies routinely make their products less accessible to this same group, basically writing them off.
