Are Notifications a Challenge for Older People?: A Study Comparing Two Types of Notifications

Elderly users are usually not the target of design of mobile applications, and they may have cognitive and physical difficulties. Mobile notifications may help them remember to use an application, promoting adoption and allowing them to become content providers. We developed a mobile application, QuestionReport, that asks users one question per day, and implemented two types of notifications: one that is activated at the same time each day, and one that is activated while using the smartphone. We tested both notification types with 18 users over a period of 8 days, measuring the time it took to answer the question after receiving the notification and their perceptions about each notification style. We found that the ideal time for users to receive a notification depends on their employment status and that users with low digital skills have less confidence in their abilities to use a mobile application such as QuestionReport.