Ageism and Sexism Amongst Young Technicians and Older People in China

A study was undertaken with 85 young Chinese people involved with technology design and development (either as students or workers) and 101 older Chinese people. The main aim was to investigate whether the young people, as current and future designers and developers of technologies for older people, have ageist and sexist attitudes about older people as users of technology. A second aim was to investigate whether their attitudes differ from those of older people. Participants were shown a picture of either a young or old Chinese woman or man and asked to assess the likelihood that this person would use a desktop computer, laptop computer and a smartphone, and their level of expertise in each of these technologies. Both young and older Chinese people showed negative attitudes towards older adults compared to young ones as both users of and experts in technology, and negative attitudes towards women compared to men. However, there was only slight evidence of "double discrimination" towards older women, this was on use of the technologies rather than expertise with the technologies. These results show that young Chinese workers in technology need education in the characteristics and needs of their older potential audiences.