“Citizens Too”: Safety Setting Collaboration Among Older Adults with Memory Concerns

Designing technologies that support the cybersecurity of older adults with memory concerns involves wrestling with an uncomfortable paradox between surveillance and independence and the close collaboration of couples. This research captures the interactions between older adult couples where one or both have memory concerns—a primary feature of cognitive decline—as they make decisions on how to safeguard their online activities using a Safety Setting probe we designed, and over the course of several informal interviews and a diary study. Throughout, couples demonstrated a collaborative mentality to which we apply a frame of citizenship in opensource collaboration, specifically (a) histories of participation, (b) lower barriers to participation, and (c) maintaining ongoing contribution. In this metaphor of collaborative enterprise, one partner (or member of the couple) may be the service provider and the other may be the participant, but at varying moments, they may switch roles while still maintaining a collaborative focus on preserving shared assets and freedom on the internet. We conclude with a discussion of what this service provider-contributor mentality means for empowerment through citizenship, and implications for vulnerable populations’ cybersecurity.