Fighting Elders’ Social and Technological Exclusion: The TV Based Approach

Abstract

We are assisting to the fastest grow of senior population ever and that tendency has brought several challenges for governments, families and for the elderly. The society was not prepared for that. On the one hand, there are many elderly who live alone in the cities and, on the other hand, active people is moving to the cities looking for a better life while leaving behind the villages where they born and grow and the older family members. On the other side, everyone is expecting the aid of technology in order to solve or at least minimize this problem. This paper present a video-calling service targeted for elderly social and technological exclusion and promoting socialization while using recent technology embedded into well-known electronic devices like TVs. The evaluation of results showed that when assisted technology is encapsulated into everyday objects, older people can use it seamlessly, without any learning curve.