Abstract

Mobile and wearable technologies have unique advantages within health and wellness. Current knowledge on wearables shows, however, that users easily abandon them after an initial use period. We wanted to investigate whether adding a social dimension to wearable use would be valuable in the young elderly age group, and investigate user experiences of wearables when introducing them to people not in the traditional target group of fitness wearables and without previous experience of wearables. In this exploratory study aimed at gaining a holistic picture to guide further research, we utilize multiple research methods to gain rich data. We found that the young elderly had a clear interest in the wearable. Introducing a social dimension to the wearable seemed beneficial as the young elderly quickly formed a both supportive and competitive relation. The social connection formed through the device appeared to be value adding for the participants and seems to at least partially address the previously identified barriers.

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