Older people and specifically women at retirement age are typically not associated with technological competence. However, some of them are avid users and little is known about the ways they incorporate technical devices in their everyday life. In this study, Alina Gales and Dr. Eugène Loos depict how women’s relationship and family status at retirement age have an influence on their technology usage. Having interviewed women between 65 and 75 years old, the authors describe three types of lifestyles where the analysis follows the women’s approach to technical devices. The ‘GrandMother’ focusses on her family and local community, the ‘Half Couple’ emphasizes her husband and marriage and the ‘Independent’ concentrates on herself. Generally, the smart phone is used as an extension of their personal lifestyle and routines of everyday life: the GrandMothers direct their digital technology usage inwards, the Independents outwards and the Half Couples are split between those who use it sideways or not at all. This study adds to the limited literature on older women’s technology usage and presents an understanding of how technologies are incorporated in a certain life phase.

Gales, A., & Loos, E. (2020). The impact of the relationship and family status in retirement age on women’s incorporation of technical devices in their everyday life. In J. Zhou & Q. Gao (Eds.), Human Aspects of IT for the Aged Population, Technology and Society, Proceedings of the 6th International Conference, ITAP 2020, Held as Part of the 22nd HCI International Conference (pp. 207-225). Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-50232-4_15