Use of Mobile Phones and Tablets amongst Spanish Seniors: Barriers

and Motivations

Miguel Gomez-Hernandez

1,2 a

, Elena Villalba-Mora

1,3 b

and Xavier Ferre

Ageing Lab, Centre for Biomedical Technology, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid,

Parque Científico y Tecnológico de la UPM, 28223 Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain

Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

Biomedical Research Networking Centre in Bioengineering Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN), Spain

Keywords: Mobile Phones, Tablets, Seniors, Barriers, Motivations.

Abstract: Spain has a rapidly ageing population that still faces a large digital divide. This preliminary study aims to

research the barriers and motivations that Spanish older adults experience with mobile phones and tablets. To

investigate it, semi-structured interviews and participant observations were carried out with seniors living in

Madrid. An anthropological approach was taken, to look at the social profile and cultural context of the seniors.

The preliminary results indicate that the tablet and the smartphone are not common devices among the

participants. The seniors also remarked that huge physical barriers, poor design, and a general aversion hinder

the use of mobile technologies, although these greatly depend on the social context of the participants.

Nevertheless, the devices have been acknowledged to be supportive for communication, safety, entertainment,

etc. Future studies will broaden the research topic and include a more diverse population.

1 INTRODUCTION

The Spanish population is estimated to be the oldest

in 2050, as 32% of the population will be aged over

65 (Sancho Castiello, Abellán, Pérez Ortiz, & Miguel

Polo, 2002). Furthermore, Spain faces a large digital

divide in 2018: 48% of seniors (henceforth people

over 65) between 65 and 74 years old had not used

the internet in three months whereas 98% of

youngsters between 16 and 24 had, although this gap

has been reduced by 27% since 2007 (Abellán et al.,

2019).

Rice and Katz (2003) stated that a high income,

working full time, being married and high education

levels affect positively the use of ICT (Information

and Communication Technologies). However, other

researchers as Kang and Maity (2013) confirmed that

low-income users use phones heavily. In this regard,

González-Oñate, Fanjul-Peyró, and Cabezuelo-

Lorenzo (2015) manifested that the recent economic

crisis in Spain has constrained the incorporation of

Spanish seniors in ICT. They surveyed Spanish

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4316-3550

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6043-6322

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3474-9784

seniors who responded that the mobile phone is the

most used technological device (81%), that are used

it to keep in touch with other people (69%), for

entertainment (18%), to talk (10%) and only 2%

claimed to use it for training and education. Rosales

and Fernández-Ardèvol (2016) indicated that Spanish

older adults use calendar, notes and address book

more often than other age groups and older adults use

smartphones less often in stable locations with Wi-Fi

than young people.

Various models explain mobile technology

adoption, among them, Kwon and Chidambaram

(2000), Phang et al. (2006) and Mobile Phone

Technology Acceptance Model (Van Biljon & Kotzé,

2007). Nevertheless, closer to this research, Renaud

and Van Biljon (2008) suggest “Senior Technology

Acceptance & Adoption Model” (STAM) with a

focus on mobile technologies. The latter model

consists of user context, perceived usefulness,

intention to use, experimentation and exploration,

ease of learning and use (innovative feature in the

models), confirmed usefulness and actual use. In their

Gomez-Hernandez, M., Villalba-Mora, E. and Ferre, X.

Use of Mobile Phones and Tablets amongst Spanish Seniors: Barriers and Motivations.

DOI: 10.5220/0009570400500058

In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health (ICT4AWE 2020), pages 50-58

ISBN: 978-989-758-420-6

investigation, most of the seniors did not buy a phone

device by themselves and consider spending money

on it very carefully. Rejection of these devices is

caused because of bad experimentation and a

perception that the phone is too difficult to use.

Mobile technologies facilitate seniors’ social

interaction, entertainment, brain stimulus and serve as

memory aids (Chen, Chan, & Tsang, 2013). Elderly

people use mobile technologies for health tracking

(Ghaffari, Navabi, & Gannat Alipoor, 2016) and

safety, e.g. for Alzheimer’s users to avoid getting lost

(De Leo, Brivio, & Sautter, 2011). Mobile phones

have also been studied to decrease isolation (Ojembe

& Kalu, 2019; Preston & Moore, 2019)

simultaneously allowing the user to live

independently (Vicente & Lopes, 2016). The first

person to whom they call is the partner (Kurniawan,

2007) and grandchildren usually teach seniors how to

use these devices (Mallenius, Rossi, & Tuunainen,

2007), although this might vary by the country where

the research was carried out.

Rejection of these devices among seniors may be

caused because of several factors. Low quality of

interface seems to be a predominant reason to discard

mobile technologies (Abascal & Civit, 2001). In

addition to this, the absence of clear pricing, a small

screen, complex menu, small buttons and a small font

of characters also limit its usage (Mallenius et al.,

2007). Deficient evaluation of user needs and

incomprehensible manuals and instructions are major

shortcomings for the mobile industry (Ibid.). Phones

are also known to provoke a great readjustment of

seniors’ life routine, which becomes a limitation for

its use (Ling, 2008).

There are also physical barriers playing a big role

in the use of mobile technologies among seniors. For

example, Czaja et al. (2006) describes cognitive

barriers that encompass memory and processing

speed. Other physical limitations that deter potential

use of phones are visual, auditory and motor control

abilities (Eek & Wressle, 2011). The mental barriers

that seniors experience include privacy concerns,

security and safety (Chiarini, Ray, Akter, Masella, &

Ganz, 2013) and low confidence (Mitzner et al.,

2010). In this sense, seniors become lost, return more

often to the top of the menu and spend more time with

tasks (De Leo et al., 2011).

Previous research has focused on the barriers and

facilitators that older adults experience with mobile

technologies, however, there is not enough qualitative

research concerning this in the Spanish context. This

literature review thus fosters an inquiry to explore

qualitatively what is the actual use of mobile

technologies by Spanish older people. The main goal

of this article is to investigate what are the barriers

and motivations of Spanish seniors when using

mobile phones and tablets. The research has been

framed within an anthropological investigation with

an attempt to explore associations between the social

background and cultural context of the participant and

his or her technology adoption. For that, qualitative

methods, that are elaborated in the next section, have

been applied among 15 Spanish seniors dwelling in

Madrid.

2 METHODS

The methods performed have been semi-structured

interviews and participant observations. Interviews

are defined by Kvale (2007) as conversations with

structure and purpose. The interviews were semi-

structured so as to let the senior participant speak

freely but remaining within the mobile technologies’

topic. Besides that, participant observation helps

ethnographers to gain an understanding of the actors’

activities in a natural environment (Kawulich, 2005).

Participant observations used to be carried out in

exotic settings, although recent ethnographers shifted

the researched site to where ethnographers live.

Spradley (1980) states that ethnographers observe

social situations that are composed of actors,

activities and a place. Once the observer knows the

social situation, he or she can try to link other social

situations around by looking at clusters of situations

in one place, networks of actors’ proximity and

situations of similar activities (Ibid.).

The semi-structured interviews were composed of

two central topics. Firstly, we asked about their lives

and the current social context of the participant which

was useful to empathize with. Then, the topic of

discussion narrowed down, so we addressed closely

the topic of mobile technologies. Interviews and

observations happened in the same setting and time.

The observations have occasionally been

nonparticipant to avoid interference when the

participant was dealing with the device and give

freedom of error and success. In contrast, the

informants asked us a few times how to use certain

functions of the device, thus we had to intervene in

the process, making our observations slightly

participant.

The interviews have taken place in quiet spaces

where the elder was able to focus on the device and

explanations. When he or she knew us beforehand,

the interview occurred at their houses. In other cases,

the interview was held in neutral places (cafeteria,

Use of Mobile Phones and Tablets amongst Spanish Seniors: Barriers and Motivations

hospital, etc.) when we were not enough known by

the elder.

Some interviews were held in couples (wife and

husband), which on one hand limited the freedom of

speech of the partner, but on the other hand, it made

the interview richer in terms of data. The seniors, in

general, spoke on behalf of the partner, in this sense

not having an individual approach. Furthermore,

carrying out some of the interviews in couples

enabled not to overload the participants, as two

interviews were held at once.

The participants signed a consent form and we

made voice recordings to transcript the interviews.

The interviews lasted approximately 1h 30’, in which

around half of the time was meant to foster rapport

and the second half to address the topic of research.

We have also used jottings to create field notes of the

person, setting and methodological lessons. Jottings

are short sentences or keywords to aid the researcher

to keep the situation memorized (Bernard, 2011).

The data collected from the interviews

(transcriptions, pictures, and field notes) has been

coded by NVivo whose one of the functions is to

generate a map of codes that helps frame an

investigation. Coding the data has been performed by

doing a thematic analysis, so we made a prior list of

codes of the first interview that has evolved over we

analysed more interviews. For instance, an emerging

code that we did not address in the interview guide

was “Landline Phones”, but the participants talked

about it often. The language used in the interviews

has been Spanish, thus the quotes cited in this article

have been translated into English.

2.1 Access to the Field

We firstly got access to observe and talk with seniors

who were part of the SPRINTT project. This is a

European investigation that, within Spain, happened

at Hospital Universitario de Getafe. Its team was

formed by physiotherapists, doctors, and nutritionists.

Our laboratory has had an earlier relationship with

this team which eased our access to some of the

participants.

We came to two of the sessions to initially get to

know the participants. They had a prior walk to

warmup through a corridor, so we walked along with

them to build trust. They later had to do some physical

exercises (zigzags, squads, etc.) and then performed

other exercises in another room: stretch muscles, lift

weights, etc. In the beginning, we simply sat beside

them waiting for the session to finish, however, we

repeated the same exercises in the last days as it

seemed to us a reasonable way to get their trust. We

talked with different seniors every session and, as

soon as we felt that we strengthened rapport, we

scheduled an interview. In SPRINTT, we interviewed

4 seniors until the project finished by mid of October

2019.

Prior to the interviews, we asked the participant to

bring his/her phone to see how he/she uses a known

device. We brought an external tablet to the

interview, as in case they had one, it is not an easy

device to carry for the participant. Furthermore, we

presumed that most of them would not have a tablet

nor know what it is, therefore it would be easier to

bring it and be able to discuss what a tablet entails.

Being known by the participant has facilitated our

access to them greatly. As an opposite example, a

participant who did not know us beforehand

suspected that the interview was meant to sell her a

phone. Getting trusted by Spanish seniors might be

tough, especially with older people who are going

through economic struggles or previous difficulties

during and after the Spanish Civil War.

When the SPRINTT project finished, we sought

seniors that are part of our social networks: they live

close to us or they are friends’ relatives. With this

approach, 11 older adults were interviewed. The prior

condition was that they belonged to a middle/low

socioeconomic background. However, the

participants have eventually come from diverse

socio-economic contexts and we decided to include

people with a high level of education and apparent

high incomes, in this way the research strategy

evolved. Generalizations in this article are founded in

the dominant patterns that the majority of participants

mentioned. The quotes represent common interview

themes, in contrast, if processes or themes are not

general these are not discussed. The sample is diverse

and their insights are useful to be examined.

Furthermore, this is a preliminary investigation and

we preferred to do an in-depth analysis and lengthy

observations of the participants through qualitative

methods assuming that we would be limited to

interview a large number of seniors.

2.2 Population

Up to this point, 15 senior citizens have been

interviewed and their names have been anonymized.

The following data contains the information that they

expressed in the qualitative interviews and our

observations.

The mean age of the participants is 78.5, being 65

the youngest and 90 the oldest. 10 interviewees were

women and 5 men. 11 seniors have had manual jobs

in the past (cleaner, assembler, taxi driver, housewife,

ICT4AWE 2020 - 6th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health

etc.) and no more than elementary education. In

contrast, 4 participants have had skilled jobs (director

ICT company, engineer, etc.) and university

education. We observed that 12 were physically fine

and 3 looked frail. The participants currently live

around Madrid and 7 come from rural areas in Spain

having lived a mean of 57.6 years in Madrid. 8 seniors

remarked not to participate in public activities with

other elderly people while 7 seniors reported

participating in social activities.

3 ANALYSIS

The analysis is divided into 2 sections. The first

focuses on the motivations that the seniors experience

using mobile technologies. The second part

emphasizes the barriers that limit the senior

participants using them. The tablet has not been a

frequent device among the participants, thus it is not

often mentioned in the analysis. Two examples of the

participants’ mobile phones can be seen hereinafter

and it is noteworthy that 5 seniors have the Alcatel

2008G (the phone on the left) whereas only one senior

owns the Sony XA1 Ultra (the phone on the right).

Figure 1: Examples of seniors’ mobile phones.

Some preliminary results of the fieldwork can be

seen in the next table. The second, third and fourth

columns detail whether the participants possess the

devices, the fifth informs about for how long time the

mobile phone has been used and the last column

indicates the frequency of use. When “x” appears, it

means that there is no such information:

All participants have a phone, except for a couple

that has one for both. However, there are only 8

holders of smartphones, which represent almost half

of the sample. Owning a tablet is less common as only

5 participants reported having one. The length of time

using mobile technologies has been on average 14.4

years, with a large disparity between the participants.

The frequency also varies, but 8 seniors use the phone

Table 1: Preliminary results.

at least once a day. Furthermore, the participants

reported using the former mobile devices of their

adult children and grandchildren, whereas a few

seniors bought mobile technologies by themselves.

Concerning the learning process, 6 older adults

expressed to have learned to use the phone on their

own, whereas 9 were taught by their close relatives.

3.1 Motivations to Use Phones and

Tablets

The most common reason reported by the participants

to use mobile technologies is to get a feeling of

security. The mobile device makes the seniors feel

safe when going out as they have the possibility to be

in contact. Some of the participants expressed to use

the phone solely on the street, unlike others who

never take it out not to be monitored by their children.

Other seniors acknowledged being obliged by their

children to carry the mobile phone outside for safety.

To illustrate safety with an example, a couple of

participants said:

Because of the stroke, they advised us to have one

phone for each, as he sometimes goes for a walk while

I cook and tidy up the house, and the walk takes too

long, then I call him and he tells me he is with so-and-

so. (I9-I10)

Other senior participants reported using mobile

phones to communicate with their sons and

daughters. Apart from this, the device allows the elder

Cases Phone

Smartphone

Tablet

Years

of use Use frequency

I1 Yes Yes No 22

I2 Yes No No 8

I3 Yes No No 8 x

I4 Yes No No 10

Once 15 days

I5 Yes Yes Yes 20

On holiday s

I6 Yes Yes Yes x

On holiday s

One

for both

Yes No x

Once a day

One

for both

No No x

Once a day

I9 Yes No No 2

Twice a day

I10 Yes No No 1

Twice a day

I11 Yes Yes Yes x

Not often

I12

Yes No No 7 Once a day

I13

Yes Yes Yes 30 Constantly

I14

Yes Yes Yes 20 Constantly

I15

Yes Yes No 30 Constantly

Use of Mobile Phones and Tablets amongst Spanish Seniors: Barriers and Motivations

to live independently, so seniors might not need to be

accompanied by a caregiver. Smartphones’ owners

manifested to use the technologies to request taxis

and to read online newspapers. A couple of

participants remarked on the usefulness of the public

transport app, EMT Madrid. This couple appreciates

that smartphones help decrease isolation and allow

take pictures of the environment. This couple of

seniors who have higher education, have had skilled

jobs and are frequent users of tablet and smartphones,

expressed:

Now you look dumb if you don’t have a phone,

you’re isolated. If it wasn’t for the phone, I wouldn’t

have communication with many friends. Because the

landline phone is not used by anyone. (I5-I6)

The older adults, who reported to prefer to keep

their cellphones instead of switching to smartphones,

stated a lack of confidence to learn to use the latter.

However, none of the participants explicitly

acknowledged feeling anxiety or fear towards

unfamiliar mobile devices, although we could

observe them on some occasions. In contrast,

smartphones’ owners expressed that they hold these

devices because of their beauty, practicality, and

usefulness. In relation to landline phones, four

participants stated to have a preference for them over

mobile phones. Those seniors reported landline

phones being less difficult and have a longer shelf life

than mobile phones. They also manifested to

remember easily landline’ numbers as they are used

to. A senior couple who possess cellphones, a

landline phone, and they do not want to buy a

smartphone, expressed:

It is easier to remember the numbers on the

landline phone because you dial them, and here in the

cellphone is more complicated with the phone book.

(I2-I3)

Holders of Alcatel 2008G, the cellphone

previously displayed, did not have troubles when

unlocking, muting, calling, taking a call and dialling

(in the case they had no low vision). This device has

big buttons and numbers that facilitate the

aforementioned functions. The unique senior who

owns a Sendo S330, I4, reported not having problems

when charging the phone, refilling the balance,

turning it off and on, calling and taking calls. Besides,

the holder of a Samsung Galaxy S3, I1, finds the

screen well-sized and with a proper interface quality.

Other participants who own smartphones did not give

an account of difficulties to take pictures, and other

basic functions such as call, hung up, etc.

The seniors who reported using mobile

technologies regularly, hold a tablet and a

smartphone, at the same time did not claim barriers

when using these devices. These participants (I5, I13,

I14, and I15) have previously worked in

organizations in high contact with technologies, have

higher education and demonstrated to master a lot of

the given functionalities of mobile technologies. For

instance, a senior woman, who is a frequent user of

her smartphone and her tablet, differentiates the use

of both technologies:

I use the tablet less, although when I am in the

room I use the tablet. So as not to drain the whole

battery life of the phone, I use the tablet. I use the

phone for calls and the tablet to look at a few apps

and some programs, as I already have it and I have

to use it. The tablet is not hard for me to use, as well

as the phone, both are Samsung (I13)

In relation to tablets, the sixth participant has one

and uses it to seek information on recipes, trips,

fashion, transport, and weather. This participant uses

this device more frequently than her husband who

prefers the computer. The eleventh senior participant

showed us all the kinds of devices she has at her flat:

TV, computer, tablet, smartphone, landline phone,

cordless vacuum, etc. She uses the tablet to listen to

the radio, read online newspapers, play board games,

navigate in Amazon, listen to audiobooks, use

Facebook and watch gossip on YouTube. This elder

remarked to have a preference for the tablet over the

mobile phone because it is bigger and has a lot of

things to be entertained. She also uses her smartphone

for health, namely, she sets up reminders to take

medicines and make appointments for the doctor

through the public healthcare app, “Cita Sanitaria

Madrid”.

3.2 Barriers When using Mobile

Technologies

The participants of this research reported having

several troubles with tablets and mobile phones that

in general surpassed motivations. An adverse attitude

towards technologies, particularly tablets and mobile

phones, has been common. The seniors deemed in the

interviews the technological hazards that especially

affect young people: addiction, absence of physical

communication, etc. However, they acknowledged

some of the benefits that technologies bring for

society. The senior participants also felt that

technologies are changing so rapidly that they cannot

get on their track. In contrast, the seniors who have

higher education, had skilled jobs, and use

technologies frequently were less reluctant to tablets

and mobile phones than the rest of the participants.

ICT4AWE 2020 - 6th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health

Concerning physical limitations, we perceived 10

seniors have them and they also acknowledged them.

For example, some older adults manifested to suffer

a limited memory to remember the steps to reach

some functions in the smartphone and to recall the

phone numbers. We also observed that many

participants have low vision, due to cataracts and

myopia, thus struggle with locating things on the

phone screen. Furthermore, the seniors showcased

poor thumb performance, as a result of high hand

tremor and finger clubbing. They, therefore, did not

accurately press the different functionalities of the

touchscreen. Some participants reported having

deafness, as another physical limitation to hear calls

and listening to the caller’s voice.

Some of the owners of smartphones stated to find

the keyboard too small. For example, a user of

Samsung Galaxy S3 considered rough texting in

WhatsApp, thus she needs to communicate by voice

recordings. The same elder is a football fan and

frequently reads the sports app Marca. However, she

has low vision and reported ignoring how to regulate

the letter font. She thereby struggles when reading

texts in the app and she needs to be guided by the logo

of the teams to find things.

The holder of Sony XA1 Ultra once typed the

wrong direction in the app MyTaxi which made the

journey more expensive than planned. Furthermore,

the same participant uses the Amazon app that asks

her to create a new account each time she logs in.

Concerning WhatsApp, she was once sending a voice

recording and forgot to stop it, thus she sent follow-

up private conversations unconsciously. She talked

about how hard is texting in WhatsApp (which is a

communication app extensively used in Spain), in this

regard she said:

I do not know how to type in the phone because

the keyboard is too small and when I click on “a”

either it gets in capital A or a number is displayed or

I get out of the app, I don’t know how to write in

WhatsApp. (I11)

In relation to the senior participants who own

cellphones, e.g. Sendo S330 and Alcatel 2008G,

declared the great difficulty of texting. The letters and

numbers are tiny and there are three letters in each

number which makes texting and dialing numbers

harder. They also narrated how tough is to find a

person in the list of contacts for calling. A couple of

seniors, who are owners of one Alcatel for both,

sometimes turn on the flashlight accidentally and

cannot turn it off. In the interview with them, the

woman elder declared to be afraid of doing something

wrong with the device, as her husband gets angry

when she uses it. This example showcases a lack of

confidence and the gender gap in technology:

We always go out together and he doesn´t let me

touch the phone because he says that I damage it. He

says that anything I touch I bust it, I am afraid of

touching everything! (I7-I8)

The eleventh participant, the holder of a Sony

XA1 Ultra, complained about the lack of warnings

when the phone tariff finishes. Her smartphone does

not notify her either when she neglects to hang up

after a call. The same senior sometimes takes

unintentional photos and finds the menu highly

complex. A couple, holders of Alcatel 2008G, asked

us to teach them how to reach access to the messages

inbox to delete 64 old messages unread. In this case,

the interview became slightly participant as

mentioned in the methodology. This couple did not

know that, apart from the function OK, there is a grey

square which points to the right, left, up and down:

We didn´t know that the phone has certain

movements, we thought that it simply had the centered

button (OK). The messages are displayed in Basque,

that’s because of my sons. (I let them try, they have

64 unread messages) One needs to learn to delete

them. Can one write with spelling errors? (I answer,

yes). I don’t see the letters properly (thus, I advise

them to call rather than text) (I9-I10)

Despite the seniors regarded a negative attitude

towards the technologies or claimed not to know

certain functions of the device, we observed some

inconsistencies over the course of the interviews. For

example, the fifth and sixth participants firstly

indicated to use the phone only on holidays, then

confirmed to use it only when notifications pop up

and finally acknowledged to use it before going to

sleep. Other seniors alleged not to know what a

smartphone is regardless they have one. It seems to us

that the participants proved good performances and

frequent use of the devices, yet pretended an adverse

attitude towards mobile technologies as that is what

society expects from them.

We observed other potential inconsistencies

among the participants. For instance, an elder

expressed to feel confident when using the phone but

at the same time repeatedly manifested that

technologies are not her thing, falling the mobile

technologies into disuse. Furthermore, some

participants reported feeling careless with

technologies that we understand as a barrier to use

them. The seniors explained carelessness as a lack of

excitement with technologies, plus the fact that their

grandchildren already use them a lot. In this regard,

Use of Mobile Phones and Tablets amongst Spanish Seniors: Barriers and Motivations

a couple of users linked such attitude with a lack of

confidence:

As we know we can’t manage them, as we can’t

remember data, we haven’t worried about this (I9-

I10)

These inconsistencies might be due to the societal

perception of older adults with technologies. In other

words, as youngsters and adults do not expect seniors

to handle mobile technologies, seniors might reject

these devices and eventually prove the society that

they do not use these devices, regardless they do.

4 CONCLUSIONS

The research question of this preliminary

investigation is to find out what barriers and

motivations Spanish seniors experience with mobile

phones and tablets. This article has also examined the

social profile of the participant, however, it has not

been central to the article. In order to answer the

question, the fieldwork has been carried out with

seniors living in Madrid.

All participants of this research have mobile

phones, yet only half of them hold smartphones and

one-third own tablets. González-Oñate et al. (2015)

and Rosales & Fernández-Ardèvol (2016) still outline

the increasing relevance of smartphones among

Spanish older adults. In this research, the time and

frequency of use have varied among the participants.

We have observed that these indicators are associated

with social factors such as level of education and

previous experiences with technologies. This is

aligned with Rice and Katz (2003) who state that

belonging to higher social status affects ICT use

positively. It is however different from Kang and

Maity (2013) who report that low-income people use

phones frequently. Although both authors do not

focus on elderly people.

Most of the participants indicated that they did not

buy their phone by themselves, so they either use their

relatives’ former devices or they were given a phone

by their children. The seniors also remarked that they

do not prefer to spend a lot of money on the mobile

phone. Concerning the learning process, the

participants, who have no previous work experience

with technologies and have elementary education,

usually are taught by their grandchildren and

children, which is associated with the studies of

Mallenius, Rossi, and Tuunainen (2007); Conci,

Pianesi, and Zancanaro (2009) and Barnard et al.

(2013).

The motivation to use mobile technologies was

extrinsic and not intrinsic, as the participants use

smartphones and tablets for external reasons.

Nevertheless, this might be due to the way we guided

the interviews which specifically focus on the reasons

that trigger the use of these technologies. The senior

participants reported feeling safe as one of the main

reasons to use mobile phones, already found by De

Leo, Brivio, and Sautter (2011). Aligned with Chen

et al., (2013), the seniors also use mobile technologies

to communicate with relatives, namely, seniors’

children and partners the most frequently called.

Besides, the seniors considered that mobile phones

allow them to live independently and at the same time

reduce their loneliness which is a current social

problem among Spanish older adults. Smartphone

owners also indicated health reasons to use these

technologies, e.g. reminders to take pills or to make

appointments for the doctor. Concerning tablets, they

are used mainly for entertainment.

The participants who manifested a positive

attitude towards mobile technologies, concurrently,

own smartphones and tablets, use them frequently

and belong to higher societal status. The owners of

smartphones reported that they are happy with their

current devices and they would not go back to

cellphones. Modern mobile technologies thereby

seem to solve more problems for Spanish older adults

than foster them. Nevertheless, the elders who own

cellphones were reluctant to switch to a smartphone

and acknowledged a lack of confidence to learn these

new devices. These elders additionally showed a

preference for landline phones over their cellphone.

However, despite smartphones are not accessible for

the participants, cellphones are not either a solution to

adopt mobile technologies. This chimes with

Kurniawan (2007) who said that out-of-date devices

for seniors do not help reduce the digital divide.

A general negative perception of the technological

world, in particular mobile technologies, has been

observed among the participants, especially those

who still hold cellphones. Such an apathetic attitude

was shown despite the good performance of their

devices. However, the senior participants, over the

course of the interview, shifted the negative

perceptions towards more positive, thus being

somewhat inconsistent. We assume that society

expects Spanish seniors to have an adverse attitude

towards technologies, in this way they exhibit it in

public, being incongruent with the aforementioned

observations.

The reported barriers comprise physical

limitations, such as low vision, limited memory,

deafness, and hand tremor. These definitely hinder

ICT4AWE 2020 - 6th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health

the use of mobile technologies which however are not

accessible to seniors with those conditions either way.

Concerning the devices’ limitations, these have been

observed in touchscreens with small keyboards,

which prevent the elders from texting messages and

dial numbers. This could be especially taken into

account in the design of WhatsApp, which is the

dominant communication app in Spain. A solution for

this could be bigger keyboards such as tablets, as they

have bigger touchscreens, and senior training to use

voice recordings in WhatsApp. The tablet is,

however, a heavy and spacious device to carry which

does not easily fit in a pocket or purse, although

retired seniors who spend most of their time at home

could benefit from it.

Moreover, the systems of smartphones and apps

should be adapted to respect the privacy of a senior

person who is not used to mobile technologies. Our

senior participants experienced problems in this

regard when they sent unconscious voice recordings

or forgot to hang up a call. In cellphones, texting

becomes truly challenging when the elder seeks a tiny

letter out of three in each number, as in the keyboard

of Alcatel 2008G. This problem is common since

33% of our participants had this phone because it is

one of the most popular devices for seniors in Spain

which only serves for calls, as the elders reported.

This in-depth and preliminary investigation has a

sample of participants who generally have a low

technology adoption and belong to lower social

classes, but some exceptions. Thereby, for future

research, the sample should be widened and balanced

in terms of gender, education and social class so as to

be able to generalize to the Spanish elderly

population. It shall also equate senior participants

with apparent high and low technology adoption. In

addition, the fieldwork could take place in seniors’

homes to prompt real home-scenarios, as not all of

our interviews did.

Furthermore, researchers should do lengthy

fieldwork with seniors observing their performances

and potential inconsistencies, as this allows to reach

valuable understandings of older adults.

Nevertheless, the researcher should be aware of

keeping distance and not to become a “native” in the

field. As a way to build rapport and be involved with

participants, a reasonable research strategy could be

to participate in technology education programs while

researching within them. Besides, the connections

between social contexts and technologies’ adoption

should also be considered more profoundly.

Spanish population still faces a big digital divide,

as stated by Abellán et al. (2019). In our opinion, the

digital divide is due to a short democratic lifespan and

poor performance by the decision-makers, which

results in social inequalities. Spain should aim to

reach an integration between senior citizens and

technologies, adapting the latter to the Spanish

seniors’ needs. The governments should invest in

educational programs of technologies to empower

seniors. In addition, we consider necessary to provide

proper technological facilities for senior citizens

living in rural areas, those from low socioeconomic

backgrounds and female elders to close the

technology gender gap. We also deem relevant to

stand against ageist attitudes that older people

embrace as their own attitudes and expectations.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to thank FEDER funds for co-

financing our home institutions. We thank Hospital

Universitario de Getafe for its collaboration by

contacting participants for this research and the senior

participants for their time spent with us.

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