Technologies and the elderly

Technological development and the increase in the elderly population are undoubtedly the two phenomena that have most characterized the last forty years. Although the elderly are credited with a certain resistance towards new things, in the last 20 years there has been a growing interest in the use of technological tools such as smartphones, PCs and tablets by the elderly population. This phenomenon has undergone a strong acceleration starting from the COVID-19 pandemic which has made technological tools indispensable in order to maintain virtual social and family relationships as it was not possible to meet people directly. Technologies promise undoubted advantages, especially for elderly people who are more easily subject to fatigue and walking problems and are more in need of constant monitoring of their health, but, at the same time, it exposes everyone, especially those over sixty-five, to collateral damage, such as reduction of in-person relationships and exposure to online scams. In this article we will try to identify the pros and cons of the diffusion of modern technological tools among the elderly.