The use of mobile phones by older adults

Abstract

Mobile phone has become essential parts of personal and business life. The recent growth of mobile phone usage is an observable fact that crosses all age and gender boundaries. It can potentially play a significant role in assisting older people in many ways especially in terms of maintaining social relationship, providing sense of safety and accessibility. However, older people seem to be a neglected user group in the design of mobile phone devices and services. Hence, this paper attempts to report the issues which are related with the design of mobile devices and services for older people aged 56 years old and over in Malaysia. The findings may serve as a reference to mobile device manufacturers and service providers when designing mobile devices and services for older Malaysians. This research uses a survey instrument to gather data from older peoples across all the states in Malaysia with the total of 176 older peoples responded. The questionnaires were mainly distributed to older persons who use mobile phones independently in their daily routines