The Vista of Information Communication Technology in the Ageing Society: a Perspective from Elderly’s Core Needs

This study aimed to explore the elderly‘s core needs which are indispensable for developing age-friendly Information Communication Technology (ICT) products. Seventeen interviewees who were aged from 54-90 yrs participated in the online/offline interviews. By qualitative and quantitative analysis, we showed that the implication and contributory factors of elderly’s core needs of "Health" and "Longevity". Physical (normal sensory function, no disease, etc.), psychological (inner peace, good mood, etc.) and environmental factors (companionship, etc.) all play important roles for elderly health and longevity. Among them, psychological factors are the most important, rather than physical factors. In addition, we found the typical problems on using and acceptance of ICT products, such as technophobia, digital gap, and the defects in learnability and user experience. The results suggested ICT products would play a more vital role in future aging society, but age-friendly design are needed according to the features of psychological and physical aging, and based the elderly’s core needs.