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Older adults disproportionately hindered by touch screen interfaces (2023)
131–135 of 135 posts
Re: Older adults disproportionately hindered by touch screen interfaces (2023)
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’ve not used the mouse pointer but the previous models had a rotary encoder which is easier to work with. What isn’t mentioned is that there are hardware controls on the steering wheel for volume, next previous etc so you don’t need to interact with things very much
Hardware controls are not useful if you listen to lots of audiobooks/podcasts/etc.
I guess the missing context here is how long the podcasts/playlist is vs how long your journey will take. I can see it being an issue if they are short, in a mixed order and you need to skip ahead etc.
I've a habit of stopping every two hours on longer journeys for a rest so that's when I would organise content for the next leg of the trip.
Re: Older adults disproportionately hindered by touch screen interfaces (2023)
#133Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oh no, much more often. People above 70 can deteriorate really, really quickly. I’d say yearly tests which include doctors checkups and actually driving with them.
Anyone can deteriorate quickly. My sister (mid-40s) was in a hospital for 3.5 weeks before Christmas due to an infection that rapidly progressed into sepsis. Even now 2 months later she still needs to use a cane to walk around and is out of breath climbing a single flight of stairs. Bodies are remarkably fragile. From initial onset of symptoms to septic shock was less than 24 hours.
Anyone in principle can, but the elderly actually do.
There is a reason they don’t work anymore, and that they get frequent doctor’s checkups.
If you think the population from age 25-55 deteriorates as quickly as the population over 70 I don’t know what to tell you.
Re: Older adults disproportionately hindered by touch screen interfaces (2023)
#134Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think touchscreens are great in cars as long as they aren't used to replace physical controls. I bought a new Ford Maverick last year and it follows this guidance well. I can still do all the important stuff like skip tracks, tune the radio, change volume, all from both the steering wheel and a cluster of physical knobs and buttons below the touchscreen. The touchscreen is useful for less common and more intricate…
Airplane cockpits and avionics are an interesting case where complex inputs are required and, to a very great extent, touchscreens are not used but rather both physical controls and where multiple options are necessary, physical keyboards . (There are instances of aviation-certified touchscreens, see "Thales integrated touchscreen becomes the world's first product of its kind to gain EASA certification" https://onboa…
I have a few points here
1. It takes a lot more training to learn to fly an aircraft, in part because the controls are so complex and specialized.
2. I'm not expecting to need to type while driving. But when my car is parked, there is no real downside to just letting me use an on-screen keyboard to punch in the address for my next destination. Anything other than a keyboard would frankly require too much re-learning, and I'm not convinced would actually be safer.
3. An airplane cockpit does not need to accommodate third party software, the controls are all designed with a specific intended purpose. Stuff like CarPlay and Android Auto need UX that can adapt to fit the needs of whatever software the user wants to run on them. A touchscreen accomplishes this quite elegantly.
Re: Older adults disproportionately hindered by touch screen interfaces (2023)
#135Earlier quoted context omitted.
Anyone can deteriorate quickly. My sister (mid-40s) was in a hospital for 3.5 weeks before Christmas due to an infection that rapidly progressed into sepsis. Even now 2 months later she still needs to use a cane to walk around and is out of breath climbing a single flight of stairs. Bodies are remarkably fragile. From initial onset of symptoms to septic shock was less than 24 hours.
Anyone in principle can, but the elderly actually do. There is a reason they don’t work anymore, and that they get frequent doctor’s checkups. If you think the population from age 25-55 deteriorates as quickly as the population over 70 I don’t know what to tell you.
It is more a question of frequency. That is, the elderly deteriorate quickly more frequently than younger folks do. Younger folks can still deteriorate quickly under the right circumstances, but at a population level, that is a much lower frequency given that the average younger adult has more resilient immune system and greater muscle mass than someone in their later years.
Heck, I'm in reasonably good health, but if I get hit by a car crossing the road this evening, I could deteriorate quickly overnight due to injuries and be dead tomorrow. It's just less likely for me than it is for an elderly person that has poor vision and moves slowly while crossing the road as I am more likely to be able to spot a hazard and move out of the way.