Although the problem is well known, the solutions to it, according to a study conducted by Toch and Dr. Tamir Mendel, a postdoctoral researcher at NYU, are far from ideal. “When we started looking at existing solutions, we were not satisfied, and neither were the adults,” said Toch. There are technologies that are purposefully adapted for adults. For example, phones with few buttons. The problem is that these solutions usually lag behind the introduction. Older people don’t want to use them because it cuts them off. Another solution that doesn’t work, when looking at support, is apps that allow you to give someone else remote access to your device, so they can fix the problem for you. The downside of these technologies is that older people don’t learn from them.
“In the experiment we did with researchers in Singapore, we saw that it might be possible to solve a specific problem, but you don’t learn in this process. As part of the experiment, we developed an application that allows, as soon as there is a problem, for example: a suspicious email, to send it to a relative who will solve it. Then you can accept or reject his solution This is a kind of delegating authority to young relatives. We tested the application with pairs of young and old people from the same family. We saw that it helps adults solve problems, but does not improve their performance or decision-making ability. We are skeptical about support programs that provide a successful technical solution, but do not improve the ability of those who receive the help. Our approach is that a collective ability should be created: not to treat the elderly as someone who is alone, but to develop technology that can help the community. We want to facilitate the ability to receive help and improve learning in this help process.”
The solution offered by the researchers is a new type of application, which Mandel developed as part of his doctoral thesis. “The application, known as Meerkat, provides older people with support from family and other acquaintances, on issues of privacy and information security, and creates a social network within it that always makes sure that there is help on these issues,” Mandel said. “If the adult user is in another application and sees that there is a problem, he only needs to shake the device. He then receives a message from Meerkat that he has a screenshot in the application ready to be sent, and can mark things on the screenshot, hide sensitive information, write a request or question , and send to a familiar person. The recipient of the message writes his answer, can add annotations on the screenshot, and the adult receives the answer.
“An adult user can send the questions or requests for help to people he knows or to people in his social network. The application is focused on issues of privacy and information security in mobile, because what is most difficult for adults is to take a screenshot and draw on the screen itself, to express what they want to ask. The application allows the It’s easy, and makes it possible to provide help available through different channels: friends, family, acquaintances, or volunteers in the community itself who can provide the help they want.”
How is it different from simply taking a screenshot and sending it on WhatsApp?
Mandel: “The significant difference is that today taking a screenshot on WhatsApp is very cumbersome and difficult for an adult. The application prepares it by itself using the rattle and prepares it for sending. The user does not have to mess with the whole operation. It directs him to mark things on the screen, write the question he wants, and choose the person who can help. There is a database of users who can give help if the user does not know anyone who can help. In the future, it is also possible to build tools that will give an indication of the quality of the volunteer.”
Toch: “The main thing is building a community of volunteers for adults who don’t have a support network, and building a uniform support interface. The screenshot is a bit like stories on Instagram that you can put all kinds of things on. It’s an object that is talked about and things can be added to it, and through it you can learn. We tried to go Beyond the technical element of how to provide help in the fastest way, there is an attempt to solve social problems that arise from the fact that many adults have no one to ask for help, or they are uncomfortable being harassed on WhatsApp. This is an application that is clearly for support, a much safer space for support.”
As part of the development process, Toch and Mandel conducted an experiment that examined the impact of Meerkat on the adults who use it. “The experiment tested learning between two different groups: relatives and a community we created of people who don’t know each other,” Mendel said. “We saw that people who ask for help in both communities show signs of learning from the process. There is higher learning among people who have a family or social relationship between them, compared to people they don’t know. In addition, users trust people they know more.”
In the future Toch and Mandel plan to add additional capabilities, such as automatic detection of emergency situations. “Nowadays an adult has to be able to recognize problematic situations,” Mandel said. “So we developed a machine learning system that detects situations in which people need help. It uses physiological measures of stress to identify when the user is in distress and understand that they need help. Of course, it requires smart watches, but can help people who have less awareness of dangerous situations.”
Toch added: “Another thing is an algorithm for locating the person best suited to help with a particular problem, the person most available and with the best expertise. Our goal is not to trade, but to make the application accessible in open source. We want to open Meerkat as a general platform for support, to attract both users but also Additional developers will expand its capacity. The goal is to enable as many communities as possible to be created that support older people or other populations.”
What is the long-term relevance of such research?
Toch: “Two years ago I did a study in Berlin on the use of technology by adults, and a very young student, 20 years old, asked me how relevant the research would be in the future, when today’s adults will disappear and the digital natives will become adults. As the rate of change increases, the research will be more and more relevant, even for the natives Digital. The more the pace of technology advances, the more and more adults encounter fear of it. We see how those who are 25 today call their grandchildren to understand why their computer is not connected to their brain as it should be.”