News and Media

Empowering Senior Voices was one of 14 projects selected for RMIT’s 2025 City North Activation Challenge, bringing older adults’ perspectives into the precinct through participatory storytelling and the Our Voice methodology to support civic participation and more inclusive urban environments.

Empowering Senior Voices shows how older adults’ lived experience can be turned into practical insights for better urban planning. By involving older people directly in identifying local barriers and co-designing solutions, the project demonstrates how councils and communities can create safer, more accessible, connected and inclusive places that benefit people of all ages.

Older adults bring valuable lived experience to shaping more age-friendly communities. By mapping their everyday experiences as citizen scientists, participants identified practical opportunities to make Melbourne’s neighbourhoods more liveable, accessible and connected as people age.

Social media can strengthen connection, participation and wellbeing for older adults by helping them maintain relationships and build communities around shared interests.  Older adults are active digital participants, challenging assumptions that social media belongs primarily to younger generations.

Older adults’ digital needs, motivations and barriers vary considerably, making tailored community-based support essential. Community leaders and trusted organisations can provide safe, relevant learning environments that build digital confidence and inclusion. (RMIT University)

Shaping Connections worked directly with older adults to understand the barriers, risks and opportunities they experience when using technology. Co-design turned those insights into practical strategies and resources for improving digital confidence and social connection.

Peer-to-peer mentoring provides older adults with personalised, experience-based support to build digital skills and confidence.  Shaping Connections' co-designed approach has grown from U3A into a replicable model being used by councils, libraries and other community settings. (RMIT University)

Older consumers are a significant and increasingly digitally engaged market, yet many brands continue to overlook them or rely on outdated stereotypes. More inclusive marketing starts with understanding older adults as diverse consumers rather than defining them by age. (Inside Retail Asia)

Ageist assumptions can exclude older consumers and cause organisations to overlook a significant and digitally engaged market. Understanding older adults’ diverse needs and involving them in the design of products, services and experiences can produce more inclusive outcomes.

Older adults benefit from digital learning that is supportive, relevant and free from judgement. Community leaders, peer learning and tailored education can provide alternatives to family support and help build confidence, independence and digital inclusion.

Digital inclusion works best when support is tailored to older adults’ individual needs, experiences and concerns. Self-assessment, peer learning and ongoing community support can help build the confidence and skills needed to engage with technology.

Supporting older adults requires communication approaches that recognise different levels of digital access, confidence and preference. This COTA Victoria webinar explores how service providers can make communication more inclusive and responsive to older clients.

Digital inclusion support needs to reflect older adults’ different cultural backgrounds, experiences and levels of confidence. Co-designed and culturally responsive approaches can help organisations provide more relevant support, particularly for culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

Digital inclusion works best when support is tailored to older adults’ individual needs, experiences and concerns. Self-assessment, peer learning and ongoing community support can help build the confidence and skills needed to engage with technology.

Perceived risks can be as significant a barrier to digital participation as access or technical skills. Helping older adults understand and manage online risks can build confidence, strengthen digital participation and support social connection.

Older consumers can be particularly exposed to misleading online offers that exploit trust or uncertainty about digital services. Clear information, digital confidence and scrutiny of online claims are important protections against deceptive marketing.

Technology can provide an important pathway to social connection for older adults, particularly during periods of isolation. Building confidence and providing appropriate support can help older people use digital tools to maintain relationships and participate in community life.

Family members are often the first source of technology help for older adults, but fixing a problem is not the same as helping someone learn. Patient, purpose-led support can build lasting digital confidence and reduce intergenerational frustration.

The rapid shift towards cashless payments highlighted how digital access can affect people’s ability to participate in everyday life. Digital inclusion requires more than access to technology, with connectivity, skills and appropriate support also shaping people's ability to adapt.

Older adults’ rapid adoption of digital tools during COVID-19 challenged stereotypes about their willingness or ability to use technology. When technology has a clear purpose and appropriate support is available, older adults can build confidence and adapt successfully.

Older adults can adapt quickly to new technology when it helps them achieve something meaningful, particularly staying socially connected. Trusted peers and community connectors can play an important role in building digital confidence and challenging stereotypes about older adults and technology. (The Guardian)

Access to technology does not automatically create digital confidence. Older adults often rely on family for help, but patient teaching, peer support and opportunities to learn independently can be more effective than having someone simply solve the problem for them.

Older adults use technology in purposeful ways that prioritise existing relationships and meaningful connection. Their digital behaviours challenge age-based stereotypes and offer a different perspective on how technology can support rather than dominate everyday life.

Older adults build digital skills most effectively when learning is relevant, supportive and grounded in their own experiences. Peer learning, community support and co-designed approaches can build confidence more effectively than one-size-fits-all technology training.