There is a common misconception that older adults are inherently averse to adapting to technology. However, experts on digital health technology have found that the real problem is creating technology that isn’t designed for issues that can naturally occur as people age. This is especially true as more of the aging groups in the future will come from generations that already grew up with modern technology.
According to data from the Pew Research Center, more seniors are adopting smartphones, tablets, and social media as part of their daily routine. By 2022, there was only a 35 percentage point difference between smartphone users aged 18 to 29 and those aged 65 and older. Despite this, not enough consideration is given to mobility, vision, and other aspects that could affect one’s ability to take on new tools and advancements.
How tech lacks accommodation for seniors
The irony of the gap between technology and accessibility is how much devices can aid older adults with their lifestyle if specific design issues are addressed. A study featured in Frontiers in Psychology looked at a group of 18 seniors who were still learning how to use tablets. The results found the most significant barriers to be complex technology combined with a lack of instructions and health-related problems.
Dexterity and hearing difficulties are significant concerns, but the most common concern is vision problems. More than 13 million American adults over 65 have vision loss, and the number will only grow since the current generation of Millennials is experiencing higher levels of myopia and other eye issues.
Web design is glaringly lacking in addressing this issue, most likely due to conformity to different devices and the prioritization of mobile usage. Unfortunately, this means people aging with vision impairment have had a higher rate of difficulty with instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) in an increasingly tech-reliant and online-based society. This covers everything from reading and navigation to crucial identification for medication, public transport, and shopping.
The most accessible tools to change font size and face come in browser extensions and shortcut keys that older adults don’t readily know without additional guidance. Even mobile phone functionality like pinch-in zooming and personalized font size and style are found in display or accessibility settings that may be intimidating to navigate for adults who already have issues dealing with the tech in the first place.
As such, older adults are relegated to using progressive reading glasses to accommodate their different vision needs based on various devices. From phones to desktops and smart TVs, seniors with vision impairment stick to multifocal readers with varied strengths per lens to navigate various screens and activities without repeatedly removing and rewearing their glasses. Brands like Foster Grant create models such as the Conan with anti-reflective coating specifically to tackle screen-heavy usage. While this works well enough for people who struggle with different distances, it’s a solution to an entirely avoidable problem that falls to web design.
How web design can become more accessible
Web designers don’t need to sacrifice UI standards and constant updates to make the web easier to navigate for vision-impaired older adults. When ensuring web design accessibility, designers can go a long way by adding hamburger menus with clear text indicators, using gradients with minimum contrast requirements, and removing accessibility overlays. This can help compensate for the limitations designers may have regarding how big the font can be.
One may think accessibility overlays are best, but this can be counterproductive if the design is overly reliant on them. Overlay usage also often becomes a band-aid solution that doesn’t have the same benefit as designing with accessibility from the ground up.
As for the font’s design, a systematic review from Frontiers in Psychology found value in using eye trackers to optimize size and legibility for older adults with vision issues. Through this method, researchers note a more promising approach to pinning down a uniform output that works for inclusive design. For instance, middle-aged adults are comfortable with size 18 font, but much older adults are still slow in reading text in this size, so further study of your target demographic is critical to determine the correct font size for them. With the right efforts, web design can still become more accessible for people with visual impairments as they age.
Every day, I write blogs about Joomla! and WordPress, assist others in creating beautiful websites using these CMS platforms, and provide support on the Joomla Support Board as a Joomla Guru in the forum.
Thank you for being here!
Recent Comments