Going beyond ageism? Intergenerational media and technological projects as alternative modes of encounters
Type
conference speech
Date Issued
2023
Author(s)
Abstract
This paper explores how intergenerational media projects, in France, can be analyzed as alternative modes of encounters between generations, media and society. In other words, it asks how specific media or technological assemblages can allow and affect encounters between generations. It aims at exploring how we can re-think intergenerational relations drawing on feminist STS, age studies and media studies (Haraway, 1988; Ahmed, 2002; Puig de la Bellacasa, 2017).
Being critical about how ageing and digital technologies can relate is fundamental. In this regard, scholars have addressed the risks posed by assuming a straightforward and solutionist relation between the needs of older adults and tech products and services (Gallist et al, 2021; Lipp and Maasen, 2022). Others have alerted on how ageist representations of older adults remain prominent in the imaginaries of developers designing new technologies for older adults and how they can be re-enacted through these products (Oudshoorn et al., 2016). However, it is equally important to examine alternative and careful ways in which ageing and technology can relate (Peine et al., 2021). This understanding is informed by feminist epistemological works which pose how doing careful research asks to address the invisible entanglements constitutive of a matter of care but also to reflect on its possible multiple futures.
This paper thus presents the analysis of eight intergenerational media and technological projects identified along a two-year digital ethnography on ageing and technology in France. I ask to what extent entrepreneurs’ varied initiatives to foster a dialogue with older adults can be understood as an attempt to ‘inhabit the distance between’ generations and how their media and technological choices are constitutive of such endeavor.
This paper contributes to a feminist theoretical exploration on ageing and technologies. It aims at promoting research that generates care for intergenerational relations through nuanced critique.
Being critical about how ageing and digital technologies can relate is fundamental. In this regard, scholars have addressed the risks posed by assuming a straightforward and solutionist relation between the needs of older adults and tech products and services (Gallist et al, 2021; Lipp and Maasen, 2022). Others have alerted on how ageist representations of older adults remain prominent in the imaginaries of developers designing new technologies for older adults and how they can be re-enacted through these products (Oudshoorn et al., 2016). However, it is equally important to examine alternative and careful ways in which ageing and technology can relate (Peine et al., 2021). This understanding is informed by feminist epistemological works which pose how doing careful research asks to address the invisible entanglements constitutive of a matter of care but also to reflect on its possible multiple futures.
This paper thus presents the analysis of eight intergenerational media and technological projects identified along a two-year digital ethnography on ageing and technology in France. I ask to what extent entrepreneurs’ varied initiatives to foster a dialogue with older adults can be understood as an attempt to ‘inhabit the distance between’ generations and how their media and technological choices are constitutive of such endeavor.
This paper contributes to a feminist theoretical exploration on ageing and technologies. It aims at promoting research that generates care for intergenerational relations through nuanced critique.
Language
English
Event Title
Fifth International Socio-Gerontechnology Workshop - Annual Meeting
Event Location
Utrecht, The Netherlands
Event Date
28 & 29 September 2023,
Contact Email Address
marie.poux-berthe@unisg.ch
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