Universal access to mobile telephony as a way to enhance the autonomy of elderly people

Abstract

The rise of mobile telephony has opened a vast diversity of new opportunities for older people with different levels of physical restrictions due to ageing. Mobile technology allows not only ubiquitous communications but also anytime access to some services that are vital for elderly people's security and autonomy. Nevertheless, with the numerous advantages, remote services can also introduce important social and ethical risks for this group of users. This paper tries to analyse the novelties that mobile technology may introduce into the lives of older users, points out some dangers and challenges arising from the use of these technologies and revises some future applications of the present mobile technologies.