Who needs digital designs for older adults? Disentangling barriers to digital use and the role of ageism in obscuring diverse user needs through a qualitative study

Digital designs for older adults may homogenize diverse needs with a one-size-fits-all solution. Ageism embedded in designs, and internalized among older adults, could obscure evaluations of barriers to digital use. This study investigates daily digital use of older adults to explore the knowledge gap in the relationships between digital designs, barriers, and ageism. Data were collected from older adults in a co-design program in Hong Kong who participated in a semi-structured focus group (N = 12, age 60–81 years). Two problem definitions on digital use barriers and two dilemmas were found in the thematic analysis. First, health-based barriers contributed by functional decline were related to aging; thus, chronological age was blamed for ineffective digital use. Second, skill-based barriers are more amendable. Developing digital skills affords older adults to utilize accessibility features to mitigate health-based barriers. Third, a dilemma of oversimplification limited the potential of digital use. While simplified designs might help users develop basic usage, tech-savvy participants felt they were constrained by a narrower set of affordances, which could trap users into a usage bubble. Finally, an internalized ageist dilemma suggested a segregation between tech-savvy and “weaker” older users, where the former justifies the divide by emphasizing the overgeneralized consequences of aging. Findings suggest digital designs should move beyond defining older users by chronological age alone, which prompts oversimplified designs. Instead, accessibility-based inclusive designs should be promoted to address individual functional needs. Digital literacy programs should introduce the current techno-social culture, including accessibility design trends, to dismantle ageist digital beliefs and designs.