Ageing and Technology

Abstract

Our present society can be characterized by expectations of reaching old age and thus having a long life: life expectancy has constantly risen for the last 150 years in industrialised countries -mainly due to better living conditions, higher hygienic standards and improved medical care (Schwentker/Vaupel 2011; Hülsken-Giesler/Krings 2015). The high life expectancy we face today is indeed a success for our present ageing society, although it is very often negatively connoted and mainly discussed in the context of a "crisis" in demographic change. Among many similar statistical overviews, the EU Ageing Report 2012 states that "one in three Europeans will be over 65 by 2060. The ratio of working people to the 'inactive' others is shifting from 4 to 1 today to 2 to 1 by 2060" (European Commission 2012: online). The "challenge" of coping with this growing share of "inactive" population has fostered many initiatives by political, social and research institutions (see also Mantovani/Turnheim in this volume) 1 . In the last decades, the field of ageing studies has also driven the attention of scholars from many disciplines in an effort to respond to this alteration in the social structure and in an attempt to reflect and also improve the quality of life for elderly people (e.g. Kriebernegg/Maierhofer 2013; Twigg/Martin 2015). Technological advances have undoubtedly contributed to improve the lives of elderly citizens in numerous aspects and are prominently included in political ambitions to RefeRences

Revisiting the Twentieth Century Through the Lens of Generation X and Digital Games: A Scoping Review

“…Learning how to play videogames, purchasing of videogames and associated technology was also lower in 2019 than in 2016, displaying 10% and 14% respectively. Additional insights and results can be found for the purchasing habits, preferences of learning and game genre preference by older adults in the scholarly work by Marston (2012); Marston et al (2017) and Marston and Graner-Ray (2016).…”

“…From an academe standpoint, Game Studies has grown over the last 30-50 years encompassing a myriad of scholarly research ranging from gender, cognition to games for health, user engagement and design. Research in this area is compounded by understanding game player experiences: immersion (Ermi and Mäyrä 2005;Marston 2013a;Lindley 2008a, b, 2010), motivation, player preferences, usability (Diaz-Orueta et al 2012;Gajadhar et al 2010;Nap et al 2009a, b;Fitzpatrick 2009;Harley et al 2010;Ijsselsteijn et al 2007); while gender in relation to videogames garnered attention to understand the game preferences, character development, the relationship between game playing as an activity and gender, online game playing engagement, gender differences between game confidence and competency (Brown et al 1997;Hayes 2007;Jansz and Martis 2007;Jenson et al 2007;King and Douai 2014;Temple and Lips 1989;Rutter 2002, 2003;Jenson and De Castell 2004;Marston and Graner-Ray 2016;Cassell and Jenkins 2000;Hartmann and Klimmt 2006). Furthermore, this discipline has received interest from scholars across various disciplines who are interested in understanding videogames from a theoretical perspective and who are interested in learning the various relationships between genres and sub-genres can impact upon this discipline (Abt 1987;Adams 2009;Bogost 2007;Fencott et al 2012;Lindley 2003;Marston and McClenaghan 2013;Mueller et al 2008Mueller et al , 2011Neale 1980;Oh and Yang 2010;Orland and Remo 2008).…”

“…Given existing scholarly activity in the early part of the twenty-first century, the academe has primarily focused on older adults which has offered substantial insights into videogame playing preferences and design, as well as the benefits to engaging with video games (Brown and De Schutter 2016;De Schutter and Brown 2016;Marston and Graner-Ray 2016;Marston et al 2012Marston et al , 2013aMarston et al , b, 2016Marston et al , 2017Pearce 2008). However, Generation X are a cohort of population within society that have grown up with videogames, witnessing the turbulent history of the Games Industry and the developments of many successful franchises.…”