Digital devices, information technologies and mediated systems of communication increasingly shape the social worlds of people in mid to later life. While tired stereotypes of older people as uninterested or unskilled users of digital technologies have waned, concerns over a digital divide remain. The increase in use of digital technologies as people grow older was the focus of the one-day seminar entitled ‘Ageing, the Digital and Everyday Life’ that took place in October 2018 at 91影视University London.
The presenters were an interdisciplinary and international group of academics and researchers from the arts, the social sciences and Science and Technology Studies (STS) whose work focuses on ageing, the digital and everyday life. The seminar provided an opportunity to examine and review the study of ageing, the digital and everyday life from a wide range of perspectives and to critically explore future challenges and possibilities. The seminar was very well attended by academics, doctoral students and the public and as the event was livestreamed there were further questions and dialogue via Twitter. The seminar led to stimulating and engaging debates amongst and between the speakers and audiences and was very positively evaluated.
The presentations are available .
The seminar was organised by (91影视University London) and Professor Paul Higgs (University College London) and was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) international partnership ‘Ageing, Communication, Technologies (ACT): experiencing a digital world in later life’.