Potential and Barriers

ABSTRACT—Why are older adults reluctant to adopt new technology, such as the Internet, given its potential to improve the quality of their lives? We review evidence indicating that attitudes and abilities are among the most powerful predictors of technology use. We conclude that normative age-related changes in ability must be taken into account when designing products and training programs for aging adults, and we discuss new tools to support designers. The most promising emerging technologies likely lie in training cognitive abilities and augmenting or substituting for impaired abilities. We discuss reasons to expect that the lag in technology adoption between younger and older adults may lessen but will not disappear in future generations. KEYWORDS—age; technology; attitude; ability; cognition 3 We are experiencing two important sociocultural trends. The first is the remarkable increase in longevity that began in the 20th century in many developed countries. For instance, U.S. life expectancy at birth increased from about 47 years in 1900 to about 77 years in 200