'For older folks like me, these things are over us...': The challenge of embedding tablet computers in everyday life within a geriatrichospital in Uruguay

Alexander Castleton (), Alejandro Cid () and Derek Silva

No 2003, Documentos de Trabajo/Working Papers from Facultad de Ciencias Empresariales y Economia. Universidad de Montevideo.

Abstract: Much research has focused on the introduction of information and commu-nication technology (ICTs) into the lives of older people, but it has generallyunderstood them as external factors who act as a sort of independent variablethat impacts the seniors'lives. There remains a dearth of empirical researchinto how aging and technology are co-constructed, namely, research thatfocuses on older people's relationship to technology as a socio-technical net-work. We therefore contribute to this field by analyzing the development andestablishment of a network in a geriatric hospital in Montevideo, Uruguay.Uruguay has been developing a one-tablet computer-per low-income-seniorpolicy since 2015. In this research, we deployed a qualitative ethnographicresearch comprised of semi-structured interviews, jottings, and field noteswhere we explore the adoption of tablets within the corresponding actor-network. Our findings suggest that objectively, not only was the establishmentof the sociotechnical network rife with complexities, disruptions, and fissures,but subjectively, seniors in the hospital were heavily influenced by their self-perception of the potentialities of ICTs.

Date: 2020
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