Overview

On the role smartphones play in the lives of the aging in contemporary Ireland. This volume documents a radical change in the experience of aging. Based on two ethnographies in Dublin, Ireland, the book illustrates how smartphones enable old people to focus on crafting a new life in retirement. For some, the smartphone is an intimidating burden linked to being on the wrong side of a new digital divide. But for most, however, it has become integral to a new trajectory towards a more sustainable life, both for themselves and their environment. The smartphone has reunited extended family and old friends, helped resolve intergenerational conflicts though new forms of grandparenting, and has become a health resource. This is a book about acknowledging late middle age in contemporary Ireland and examines how older people in Ireland experience life today.  

Full Product Details

9781787359680

Table of Contents

Reviews

'an essential contribution to the field of aging research... sets the stage for researchers in the social sciences and humanities working on Ireland.' Anthroplogy and Aging 'This is the best ethnographic monograph on the changing dimensions of Irish society that has been written by anthropologists in the last twenty years. It should serve as a model of engaged, responsive, respectful, and beneficent ethnography, not just for scholars of and in Ireland, but also for a global anthropology that seeks a better public role.' Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (JRAI) 'Garvey and Miller's work captures the rapid change in Irish society and documents their participants' lived experience with the implications of this flux with intelligence, humanity, and respect.' Imaginations: Journal of Cross-Cultural Image Studies '[the books] are ethnographically rich. Unobscured by dense theoretical language, they are straightforwardly composed, usefully illustrated, and clearly organized. What is more, they offer a wealth of tactics for how to conduct digitally oriented research....The first two project monographs... are finely wrought ethnographic studies of digital technology and ageing in Ireland and Italy' Journal of Anthropological Research 'Interesting insights for media and communication scholars from an ethnographic perspective.' European Journal of Communication

'[the books] are ethnographically rich. Unobscured by dense theoretical language, they are straightforwardly composed, usefully illustrated, and clearly organized. What is more, they offer a wealth of tactics for how to conduct digitally oriented research....The first two project monographs... are finely wrought ethnographic studies of digital technology and ageing in Ireland and Italy' Journal of Anthropological Research 'An innovative and thorough description and analysis of how one small piece of technology has changed the way Irish people live their lives.' Tom Inglis, Professor Emeritus of Sociology in University College Dublin 'Interesting insights for media and communication scholars from an ethnographic perspective.' European Journal of Communication

Author Information

Pauline Garvey is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Maynooth University, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland. Her research interests include material culture, consumption, design, and Nordic domesticity before her more recent interest in digital anthropology and ageing. Recent publications include a special issue of the Journal of Design History titled 'Design Dispersed', edited with Adam Drazin (2016), and a monograph entitled Unpacking IKEA: Swedish Design for the Purchasing Masses (2018). Research for this work was funded by the Irish Research Council and The Swedish Institute. Daniel Miller is Professor of Anthropology at University College London. He previously led the Why We Post project on the use and consequence of social media and the ASSA project on smartphone use amongst older people. These resulted in 20 volumes published by UCL Press.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available