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Open research questions in Technology Use by Older Adults

630 gap statements mined from Technology Use by Older Adults papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 3,593 papers on the topic — drawn mostly from each paper's own stated research gap, future-work, challenge and limitation notes, and its abstract. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one.

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What the literature leaves open

  • The extent to which the perceived SHT purpose relates to user acceptance of data collection should be explored and disseminated in future studies. Future work should aim to recruit a more representative sample of Canada’s population to understand whether perceptions differ across various backgrounds.

    Examining Canadian Smart Home Technology Users’ Perceptions of Privacy, Risks, Safety, and Data Collection Purposes: Cross-Sectional National Survey · 2026 · DOI

  • While our findings are limited to the inferences possible based on a single health system’s EMR, we present measures that can be readily replicated by other health systems to evaluate their patients’ unique messaging profiles and needs.

    The Role of Measurement in Identifying High-Intensity Secure Message Senders Among Older Adults: Observational Study · 2026 · DOI

  • Third, we lack precise information on the timing of participants’ transition to unlimited data plans. Therefore, we cannot pinpoint the exact time of participants’ switch to unlimited data and its subsequent association with their social activity scores over the 6-year period.

    Unlimited Smartphone Data Plans in Older Adults With Data Deprivation: Quasi-Experimental Study · 2026 · DOI

  • The partial second-order model is better understood as a theoretically plausible representation of covariance among AE, OL, and PI that warrants further examination in longitudinal and independent samples.

    A multidimensional structure of digital anxiety in older people with scale development and validation · 2026 · DOI

  • Despite existing research confirming that eHealth literacy promotes healthy lifestyles and subjective well-being among adults aged 50 years and older, its connection to depressive symptoms remains unclear.

    eHealth Literacy and Depressive Symptoms Among Adults Aged 50 Years and Older in China: A National Cross‐Sectional Study · 2026 · DOI

  • There is a lack of understanding of how middle-aged individuals use digital technologies to care for themselves and others. The study aims to address this gap by exploring the health-related practices of middle-aged people using digital technologies.

    Caring From the Middle: On Digital and Intergenerational Links Among the Middle‐Aged · 2026 · DOI

  • Future studies will address this issue by incorporating data from multiple time points and using methods such as mediation or path analysis or using randomized controlled trials or alternative study designs to establish the causal or bidirectional relationship between internet use and sleep among middle-aged and older adults.

    Association Between Internet Use and Sleep Health Among Middle-Aged and Older Chinese Individuals: Nationwide Longitudinal Study · 2025 · DOI

  • It remains unclear whether this acceptance and use is driven by staff influence, the user’s reluctance to change an established routine, or other factors like older adults’ awareness of care providers’ organizational challenges.

    “It is very convenient when it works – successes and challenges with welfare technology” - a qualitative study · 2025 · DOI

  • Although HCPs in LTC are generally motivated to use eHealth and recognize its value, several applications remain underutilized due to barriers such as insufficient knowledge and inadequate ICT infrastructure. To address these issues, healthcare organizations should provide clear, accessible information about each eHealth product and its functionality.

    Toward successful eHealth adoption in long-term care: Insights from a national survey of healthcare professionals · 2025 · DOI

  • This research is linked with social sustainability and attempts to address the current digital exclusion by investigating the challenges that older people face as digital technologies evolve.

    Ensuring Sustainable Digital Inclusion among the Elderly: A Comprehensive Analysis · 2024 · DOI

  • Future research could explore how interventions influence attitudes such as PU or PEOU in this subpopulation to increase ICT acceptance and use. Finally, future research should explore how other factors, such as health and social factors, influence ICT acceptance and use among Asian American older adults.

    Technology Acceptance Among Low-Income Asian American Older Adults: Cross-Sectional Survey Analysis · 2024 · DOI

  • A key limitation of prior research is its treatment of depressive symptoms as a unitary construct, which neglects the dynamic and specific interactions between different online activities and distinct depressive symptoms.

    Relationship Between Internet Use Purposes and Depressive Symptoms Among Chinese Older Adults: A Cross‐Lagged Panel Network Analysis · 2026 · DOI

  • In short, the results of the bibliometric analysis that we have developed in this study on social networks and the elderly have reached a level of academic maturity, although with an opportunity for expansion in areas that have not yet been explored.

    Social Media and Older Adults (1995–2023): A Bibliometric Analysis with Implications for Media Education in Lifelong Learning · 2025 · DOI

  • Future research will focus on validating the tool’s psychometric properties, such as test–retest reliability, internal consistency, and convergent validity with established measures, while also expanding its use across broader clinical contexts and user populations.

    Iterative User-Centered Design of the Mobile Device Assessment Tool (MoDAT) · 2025 · DOI

  • Future research should focus on evaluating the effectiveness and visibility of online social platforms and addressing barriers to utilizing the platforms among the Saudi community.

    Assessing Community Readiness to Use Social Platforms for Stroke Survivors’ Recovery and Caregiver Support in Saudi Arabia · 2025 · DOI

  • This suggests that robotics and VR hold untapped potential in LTC, warranting further exploration through targeted implementation strategies.

    Toward successful eHealth adoption in long-term care: Insights from a national survey of healthcare professionals · 2025 · DOI

  • First, the geographical scope is limited to pilot cities; future research may examine whether effects differ in rural areas or less digitally developed regions.

    Digital connections: Impact of internet usage on the psychological well-being of older Chinese adults · 2025 · DOI

  • For example, attitudes toward technology itself and attitudes toward the relative technologies need to be explored to understand if there are factors underlying the importance given to health status.

    Toward Innovation in Healthcare: An Analysis of the Digital Behavior of Older People in Europe and Japan for the Introduction of a Technological Coaching System · 2024 · DOI

  • The equal-weight composite does not account for differences in the personal importance of the assessed domains and allows perceived convenience in one domain to offset perceived inconvenience in another. The experiential basis and interpretation of the PDC items may differ between internet users and non-users, and cross-group measurement equivalence could not be established using the available data.

    Perceived digital convenience and life satisfaction among older adults in China: a moderated mediation model of social adaptation and internet use · 2026 · DOI

  • During the manuscript preparation process, DeepSeek (DeepSeek Inc) assisted in text refinement (limited to the linguistic polishing of translated English content to enhance idiomatic expression) and grammatical verification.

    Examining the Impact of Digital Inclusion on Depression Among Older Adults in China: Mediating Role of Noncognitive Abilities · 2025 · DOI

  • Fifth, and relatedly, formal assessment of small-study effects and publication bias has limited statistical power when few trials are available and between-study heterogeneity is substantial, as was frequently observed in this review.

    Effectiveness of digital health education interventions for chronic disease self-management in community-dwelling older adults: an umbrella review and evidence classification · 2026 · DOI

  • Technological advancements help older adults, suggesting that these emerging technologies were not limited to the current generation but also beneficial to the older ones.

    Community-Dwelling Filipino Older Adults’ Experiences with Virtual Coach for Health-Enhancing Physical Activity (HEPA): A Phenomenology · 2025 · DOI

  • Additionally, while our study covers a broad European population of older adults, it does not account for regional or cultural differences that might shape how digital skills are developed or how they influence mental health outcomes.

    Age, Technology, and the Digital Divide: Are They Directly Related to Mental Health Problems? · 2024 · DOI

  • This study investigates the influence of telemedicine product use on the sense of control that older persons have over their digital lives.

    How Expectations and Trust in Telemedicine Contribute to Older Adults’ Sense of Control: An Empirical Study · 2024 · DOI

  • Despite the increasing demand for ET and the digitization of society and processes, according to our research, few studies have addressed the limitations in social participation of older adults, although the first studies on this topic were conducted more than 20…

    Digitalization of Activities of Daily Living and Its Influence on Social Participation for Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Scoping Review · 2024 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Technology Use by Older Adults

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Open questions raised by papers listed on this page include: (1) Future work should aim to recruit a more representative sample of Canada’s population to understand whether perceptions differ across various backgrounds (“Examining Canadian Smart Home Technology Users’ Perceptions of Privacy, Risks,…”, 2026); (2) Despite existing research confirming that eHealth literacy promotes healthy lifestyles and subjective well-being among adults aged 50 years and older, its connection to depressive symptoms remains unclear (“eHealth Literacy and Depressive Symptoms Among Adults Aged 50 Years and Older…”, 2026); (3) There is a lack of understanding of how middle-aged individuals use digital technologies to care for themselves and others (“Caring From the Middle: On Digital and Intergenerational Links Among the…”, 2026); (4) It remains unclear whether this acceptance and use is driven by staff influence, the user’s reluctance to change an established routine, or other factors like older adults’ awareness of care providers’ organizational challenges (““It is very convenient when it works – successes and challenges with welfare…”, 2025); (5) Future research should focus on evaluating the effectiveness and visibility of online social platforms and addressing barriers to utilizing the platforms among the Saudi community (“Assessing Community Readiness to Use Social Platforms for Stroke Survivors’…”, 2025). 630 gap statements have been mined from Technology Use by Older Adults papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 3,593 papers on the topic; the gaps come from whichever of those papers state one. They are mostly the research gaps the authors state and the papers' abstracts, plus future-work, limitations and challenges passages. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one, so you can read the original claim in context.

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