Too old for something new?

Cultural studies scholar Ulla Kriebernegg advocates for a nuanced view of older adults and digitalization. Age alone does not determine either how people use new technologies or their ability to learn. “Tech-savviness is not a matter of age,” Kriebernegg emphasizes. 

Digital services could, in fact, also promote social participation among older adults, for example by making it easier for them to stay in touch with family and friends. Yet advertising and societal perceptions paint a different picture: Older adults are often portrayed as helpless or technologically challenged. Particularly in the context of climate change, they are often not taken seriously, and their capacity for action and future prospects are dismissed.

Kriebernegg therefore calls for older people to be taken seriously as active, adaptable, and influential members of society, and for innovations to be designed in a way that benefits as many people as possible.

To the Unizeit article (2026)