JOURNAL ARTICLE · EDITORIAL BRIEF
Who needs digital designs for older adults? Disentangling barriers to digital use and the role of ageism in obscuring diverse user needs through a qualitative study
Frankie Ho Chun Wong and colleagues
Telematics and Informatics Reports · 24 October 2026 · Online publication
The finding or development
Simplified designs helped basic use, but some technically confident older participants described feeling restricted by fewer possibilities. Their accounts challenge treating age as a reliable shorthand for digital needs.
What supports it
Peer-reviewed qualitative study: one focus group with 12 co-design participants aged 60–81; thematic analysis.
Reviewed: University-hosted abstract and publication metadata reviewed 29 October. Publisher full text unavailable; abstract-only review.
Why it matters for design
Consider functional needs and digital skills separately when recruiting participants and deciding which controls to simplify.
Read with this in mind
A small group within one co-design programme cannot represent all older adults or establish causal effects. Full methods and author-reported limitations were not reviewed.
Original source
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DOI: 10.1016/j.teler.2026.100385
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