Who I interviewed: my grandparents :)
Questions I Asked:
1. Name top 3 of your needs, specifically relate to your own wellbeing.
2. What are your current ways to address these needs? Are they effective?
3. Has Covid changed your lifestyle? What are some challenges?
4. Are you afraid of technology? Are you gradually embracing and learning to use it more?
5. What's the role of technology in your life?
6. What do you envision technology can help you?
Main Insights:
- top 5 needs: sleep, food, healthcare, social connections, fitness
- like a cultural thing in China, elderly ladies like to do the "square dance"; gathering in a plaza and dance together
- my grandpa joined a elderly chorus group to enrich his daily life
- they both like to walk around the neighborhood after dinner sometimes, usually with friends (like a way to exercise)
- sleeping hours get greatly reduced as age rises as well as sleep quality; haven't found any effective ways to solve this (eat melatonin seems to be the only way?)
- now that a lot of things have been moved online (especially after covid), even grocery shopping can be done efficiently online and be delivered right away. But elders find it challenging; during the lock-down everyone is "robbing" the groceries on the APP or else they are gone, elders need a way to get food too. This is a challenge
- grandma is welcoming technology; she is curious and eager to explore. currently she is using a phone and an iPad. she has a couple apps on phone (WeChat, shopping) and iPad for games. The role of tech is mainly entertainment & leisure as of now. She hopes that tech can help her with more things in the future so she can rely on it more.
- grandpa is a little intimidated by it and more laid back. tech is a bit daunting but he is slowly embracing it when people patiently teach him. other than phone call, he only uses WeChat (but just to voice call and video call)