Potential Intrusiveness of Aware Home Technology: Perceptions of Older Adults

Abstract

Older individuals in particular might benefit from an aware domestic environment. Yet, fear of intrusion is a potential barrier that might keep older adults from adopting smart technologies in the home. In this study, 44 participants (aged 65–75) were given a tour of the Georgia Tech Aware Home and shown five prototype smart home devices. The structured interviews after the tour yielded 2136 quotes containing the participants' opinions about living in a technology-rich home environment. A subset addressing technology intrusiveness of five devices is presented in this paper. The results show three domains of potential technology intrusion in the home as perceived by the older adults: physical obtrusiveness, invasion of privacy, and security risk. Technology intrusiveness represented 19% of the total technology judgments, but accounted for almost half of the negative judgments in general. The distribution of the participants' conditional statements (e.g., I wouldn't mind privacy intrusion if) suggested a careful weighing of potential intrusiveness against benefits such as prolonged independence for some of the devices in particular.