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Research on aging technologies typically has explored health condition management and physical activity, while other aspects of active aging (e.g., psychological and social well-being) receive less attention. To better support active aging, we focus on the context of tracking technologies because half of the U.S. aging population engaged in keeping records of health and non-health information using manual and digital mediums. We interviewed 18 older adults to investigate their holistic tracking practices. We found participants were motivated to manage their everyday life tasks, preserve sentimental values, generate knowledge for broader audiences, and support relationships and caregiving. These motivations can help older adults age actively by supporting multi-dimensions of well-being besides physical health. Reflecting on findings, we discuss design considerations for tracking technologies to support active aging by expanding the current focus on supporting physical health to broader psychological and social well-being.
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Advancing methods for the biodemography of aging within social contexts
Several social dimensions including social integration, status, early-life adversity, and their interactions across the life course can predict health, reproduction, and mortality in humans. Accordingly, the social environment plays a fundamental role in the emergence of phenotypes driving the evolution of aging. Recent work placing human social gradients on a biological continuum with other species provides a useful evolutionary context for aging questions, but there is still a need for a unified evolutionary framework linking health and aging within social contexts. Here, we summarize current challenges to understand the role of the social environment in human life courses. Next, we review recent advances in comparative biodemography and propose a biodemographic perspective to address socially driven health phenotype distributions and their evolutionary consequences using a nonhuman primate population. This new comparative approach uses evolutionary demography to address the joint dynamics of populations, social dimensions, phenotypes, and life history parameters. The long-term goal is to advance our understanding of the link between individual social environments, population-level outcomes, and the evolution of aging.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2217812
- PAR ID:
- 10525553
- Publisher / Repository:
- ScienceDirect
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews
- Volume:
- 153
- Issue:
- C
- ISSN:
- 0149-7634
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 105400
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105400
