Abstract
Smart home devices, like Amazon Echo Dot, allow users to connect and control in-home technologies (e.g., lights, Wi-Fi, TV) by voice control or through a smartphone application. These devices are primarily marketed toward young adults, yet many of the device set-up instructions can be difficult to follow, even for digital natives. Poor instructions may represent a greater barrier to older adults who often have less experience with the new technologies, but may also benefit the most from using them. Smart home devices are perceived to positively impact the quality of life of older adults that have visual impairment or restricted mobility; it also promotes virtual connectivity with friends and family [1]. The utility of smart home devices is diminished by the challenges of setting up and connecting them. This presents a barrier to the adoption and use of the technologies across multiple generations. The goal of this study was to evaluate the set-up process for two connected smart home devices: an Amazon Echo Dot and an Amazon Smart Plug with older adults using either the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) instructions or a set of the instructions redesigned to accommodate older adults. The results from this study suggest that there is opportunity to improve instructions of smart home devices for older adult populations.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Demiris, G., et al.: Older adults’ attitude towards and perceptions of “smart home” technologies: a pilot study. Med. Inf. Internet Med. 29(2), 87–94 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1080/14639230410001684387
Anderson, M., Perrin, A.: Tech Adoption Climbs Among Older Adults, pp. 1–23. Pew Research Center (2017)
Harris, M.T., Blocker, K.A., Rogers, W.A.: Smartphone and digital home assistant use among older adults: Understanding adoption and learning preferences. In: Proceedings of 2021 HFES 65th International Annual Meeting, pp. 742–746 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1177/1071181321651316
Horrigan, J.B.: Digital Readiness Gaps, pp. 1–29. Pew Research Center (2016)
Burrows, A., Mitchell, V., Nicolle, C.: Let’s spend some time together: exploring the out-of-box experience of technology for older adults. Int. J. Mob. Hum. Comput. Interact. 8(2), 69–82 (2016)
Burrows, A.: Designing Out-of-Box Experiences for Older Adults: Exploring the Boundaries of Inclusive Design, pp. 1–282. Loughborough’s Research Repository (2019)
Eisma, R., Dickenson, A., Goodman-Deane, J., Syme, A. J., Tiwari, L., Newell, A.: Early user involvement in the development of information technology-related products for older people (2004)
Leung, R., Tang, C., Haddad, S., McGrenere, J., Graf, P., Ingriany, V.: How older adults learn to use mobile devices: survey and field investigations. ACM Trans. Access. Comput. 4(3), 1–33 (2012)
Tsai, W., Rogers, W., Lee, C.: Older adults’ motivations, patterns, and improvised strategies of using product manuals. Int. J. Des. 6(2), 55–65 (2012)
Benedek, J., Miner, T.: Product reaction cards. Microsoft (2002)
Lewis, J. R.: Psychometric evaluation of the post-study system usability questionnaire: the PSSUQ. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society Annual Meeting, vol. 36, issue number 16, pp. 1259–1260. Sage Publications, Los Angeles (1992)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Patel, S., Choy, E., Lawton, P., Lovell, J., Chaparro, B., Chaparro, A. (2022). To Dot or Not to Dot: The Effect of Instruction Design on Smart Home Device Set-Up for Older Adults. In: Gao, Q., Zhou, J. (eds) Human Aspects of IT for the Aged Population. Technology in Everyday Living. HCII 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13331. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05654-3_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05654-3_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-05653-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-05654-3
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)