It’s like the sun and the tide. The aim of this study was to understand the meaning of ‘being aged’ through the everyday experiences of those who are aged. Philosophically, this interpretive study was informed by hermeneutics and interpretive phenomenology. The writings of two twentieth-century philosophers, Hans-Georg Gadamer and Martin Heidegger, guided the study’s design and research methods. The phenomenon of interest is ‘being aged;’ a thing which is ordinarily taken-for-granted in the everyday. However, much is already spoken and empirically ‘known’ about the phenomenon by those who are not yet aged. Methodologically the study’s design sought to ‘put aside’ those voices and listen in closely to what elders themselves had to say about being in their everyday lives. Individual research conversations were conducted with fifteen participants; four Maori elders aged 71 to 93 and eleven non-Maori elders aged 80 to 97 years. All were living in private residences on Auckland’s North Shore and recruited by way of the general electoral roll. The conversations were focused on gathering the stories of particular everyday events as well as the person’s reflections on aging. Anecdotes drawn from the conversations formed the research text. Hermeneutics informed the interpretive engagement with this text. As a non-Maori researcher, cultural integrity of the text and the interpretations was enhanced through partnership with a Maori advisor. Dwelling hermeneutically with the anecdotal text was a way of listening to the spoken and unspoken words. Four overarching notions were illuminated and form the study’s findings. They are my interpretive descriptions of the ordinary ways of ‘being in the everyday,’ the experiences of ‘being with others’ in advanced age, the announcing of being aged in the uncomfortableness of ‘experiencing the unaccustomed’ and how ‘aging just is’ there in an everyday way. Reflecting phenomenologically on the findings, the meaning of being aged is in its ordinariness. My thesis is that being in the ordinary everyday in advanced age both conceals and reveals the phenomenon of being aged.

It’s like the sun and the tide. The aim of this study was to understand the meaning of ‘being aged’ through the everyday experiences of those who are aged. Philosophically, this interpretive study was informed by hermeneutics and interpretive phenomenology. The writings of two twentieth-century philosophers, Hans-Georg Gadamer and Martin Heidegger, guided the study’s design and research methods. The phenomenon of interest is ‘being aged;’ a thing which is ordinarily taken-for-granted in the everyday. However, much is already spoken and empirically ‘known’ about the phenomenon by those who are not yet aged. Methodologically the study’s design sought to ‘put aside’ those voices and listen in closely to what elders themselves had to say about being in their everyday lives. Individual research conversations were conducted with fifteen participants; four Maori elders aged 71 to 93 and eleven non-Maori elders aged 80 to 97 years. All were living in private residences on Auckland’s North Shore and recruited by way of the general electoral roll. The conversations were focused on gathering the stories of particular everyday events as well as the person’s reflections on aging. Anecdotes drawn from the conversations formed the research text. Hermeneutics informed the interpretive engagement with this text. As a non-Maori researcher, cultural integrity of the text and the interpretations was enhanced through partnership with a Maori advisor. Dwelling hermeneutically with the anecdotal text was a way of listening to the spoken and unspoken words. Four overarching notions were illuminated and form the study’s findings. They are my interpretive descriptions of the ordinary ways of ‘being in the everyday,’ the experiences of ‘being with others’ in advanced age, the announcing of being aged in the uncomfortableness of ‘experiencing the unaccustomed’ and how ‘aging just is’ there in an everyday way. Reflecting phenomenologically on the findings, the meaning of being aged is in its ordinariness. My thesis is that being in the ordinary everyday in advanced age both conceals and reveals the phenomenon of being aged.

It’s like the sun and the tide. The aim of this study was to understand the meaning of ‘being aged’ through the everyday experiences of those who are aged. Philosophically, this interpretive study was informed by hermeneutics and interpretive phenomenology. The writings of two twentieth-century philosophers, Hans-Georg Gadamer and Martin Heidegger, guided the study’s design and research methods. The phenomenon of interest is ‘being aged;’ a thing which is ordinarily taken-for-granted in the everyday. However, much is already spoken and empirically ‘known’ about the phenomenon by those who are not yet aged. Methodologically the study’s design sought to ‘put aside’ those voices and listen in closely to what elders themselves had to say about being in their everyday lives. Individual research conversations were conducted with fifteen participants; four Maori elders aged 71 to 93 and eleven non-Maori elders aged 80 to 97 years. All were living in private residences on Auckland’s North Shore and recruited by way of the general electoral roll. The conversations were focused on gathering the stories of particular everyday events as well as the person’s reflections on aging. Anecdotes drawn from the conversations formed the research text. Hermeneutics informed the interpretive engagement with this text. As a non-Maori researcher, cultural integrity of the text and the interpretations was enhanced through partnership with a Maori advisor. Dwelling hermeneutically with the anecdotal text was a way of listening to the spoken and unspoken words. Four overarching notions were illuminated and form the study’s findings. They are my interpretive descriptions of the ordinary ways of ‘being in the everyday,’ the experiences of ‘being with others’ in advanced age, the announcing of being aged in the uncomfortableness of ‘experiencing the unaccustomed’ and how ‘aging just is’ there in an everyday way. Reflecting phenomenologically on the findings, the meaning of being aged is in its ordinariness. My thesis is that being in the ordinary everyday in advanced age both conceals and reveals the phenomenon of being aged.

It’s like the sun and the tide. The aim of this study was to understand the meaning of ‘being aged’ through the everyday experiences of those who are aged. Philosophically, this interpretive study was informed by hermeneutics and interpretive phenomenology. The writings of two twentieth-century philosophers, Hans-Georg Gadamer and Martin Heidegger, guided the study’s design and research methods. The phenomenon of interest is ‘being aged;’ a thing which is ordinarily taken-for-granted in the everyday. However, much is already spoken and empirically ‘known’ about the phenomenon by those who are not yet aged. Methodologically the study’s design sought to ‘put aside’ those voices and listen in closely to what elders themselves had to say about being in their everyday lives. Individual research conversations were conducted with fifteen participants; four Maori elders aged 71 to 93 and eleven non-Maori elders aged 80 to 97 years. All were living in private residences on Auckland’s North Shore and recruited by way of the general electoral roll. The conversations were focused on gathering the stories of particular everyday events as well as the person’s reflections on aging. Anecdotes drawn from the conversations formed the research text. Hermeneutics informed the interpretive engagement with this text. As a non-Maori researcher, cultural integrity of the text and the interpretations was enhanced through partnership with a Maori advisor. Dwelling hermeneutically with the anecdotal text was a way of listening to the spoken and unspoken words. Four overarching notions were illuminated and form the study’s findings. They are my interpretive descriptions of the ordinary ways of ‘being in the everyday,’ the experiences of ‘being with others’ in advanced age, the announcing of being aged in the uncomfortableness of ‘experiencing the unaccustomed’ and how ‘aging just is’ there in an everyday way. Reflecting phenomenologically on the findings, the meaning of being aged is in its ordinariness. My thesis is that being in the ordinary everyday in advanced age both conceals and reveals the phenomenon of being aged.

<p>Scams and fraud have become a significant problem for the American population within the past few years. While victims range from young to older adults, it is the seniors who are the major targets. In 2018 the Federal Trade Commission reported that senior citizens aged 60 years and above formed 35% of all the scam victims it recorded. According to the U.S Senate Committee on aging, scams like the grandparent scam, IRS impersonation scam, romance scam; have become popular. Even at this level of notoriety, most victims are usually unaware of it entirely or how its perpetrators commit these crimes. Being aware of the situation is a critical step towards curbing this problem. This thesis project uses User-Centered Design (UCD) to understand, conceptualize, and prototype a solution to promote social interaction while improving the cognitive abilities of seniors and creating awareness about fraud. The design requirements and direction were formed through multivariate research methods like literature review, user interviews, and focus group sessions. The proposed solution is Puppy valley, an app-mediated trivia board game that has a physical wheel and mobile application and uses narratives inspired by real fraud cases to create activities for users to play with. After the research and design, the game was evaluated by five experts, and refinements within the scope of the study were made based on the insights from the evaluation.</p>

<div>Older adults aged 60+ represent the fastest growing segment of the US population, yet they are rarely seen as users of technology. Members of this age cohort often struggle with the material and conceptual requirements of computing—such as clicking small targets or remembering usernames and passwords for account logins—leading them to adopt technologies like smartphones and social media at much lower rates than their younger counterparts. Digital devices and interfaces are not typically designed with older adult users in mind, even though all users are always aging, and the “silver economy” represents a powerful, and often untapped, market for technological innovations. The little existing research in this area often conflates age with disability, framing elders according to a deficit model. While it is certainly important to consider the impacts that aging bodies have on technology use, they are not the sole factor shaping usage for older age cohorts. Moreover, if we reduce elder users to their “impairments,” we risk stereotyping them in ways that curtail design possibilities, as well as these users’ possibilities for full participation in digital life. For this reason, studies of technology users aged 60+ and their communities are necessary to shed light on the multifaceted needs of older age cohorts, and the interventions into technology design, documentation, and education that can help them reach their digital goals. </div><div><br></div><div>To build an understanding of the unique technology use of a group of the oldest Americans (aged 75+), as well as to assess their needs and desires for digital engagement, I conducted interviews and observations with computer users in a senior living community. Data collection revealed a great diversity of computing purposes and activities, ranging from social functions such as email and messaging, to managing finance and medicine, to art and design applications, and beyond. Moreover, participants’ accounts of how and where they developed their computing skills shed light on their motivations for engaging with technology, as well as their fears of technology’s intrusiveness. Analysis of participants’ performance on a series of digital tasks yielded insights into physical and cognitive factors, as well as a clear divide in forms of knowledge and mental models that older adults draw upon when attempting to engage with technology. To conclude, I provide recommendations for technology design and education, as well as future research to account for age as a factor mediating user experience.</div>