An Afternoon in Cambridge with MIT's AgeLab
by Adam Felts
AgeLab researchers Sophia Ashebir and Taylor Patskanick gave an overview presentation of the AgeLab at the Cambridge Senior Center, as part of the Cambridge Science Festival in late September. Their talk - and the responses of older community members - were captured by editorial cartoonist Sage Stossel, whose observations were featured in the Boston Globe.
The researchers summarized some major demographic trends facing the U.S.: longer lifespans and declining birthrates mean that by 2034, the United States will have more older people than children. Yet businesses still tend to ignore the older market, despite its formidable (and increasing) economic power.
The AgeLab works to propel new solutions to help people live better in older age, including designing products, services, and environments to better meet the needs of older adults, and imagining how new technologies might suited for older users.
Ms. Stossel captured some of the responses from audience members to the AgeLab's presentation. Concerns about privacy in relation to new home technologies - and wistfulness about a time when there was simply less technology - were voiced by two respondents. Older audience members also advocated for improvements to the local infrastructure that would benefit them as older community members - noting that their voices often could go unheard in Cambridge's projects and developments.
Read the editorial cartoon in the Globe here.
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