WePilot: Integrating Younger Family Members and Chatbot to Support Older Adults Learning Smartphone Usage

Older adults (OAs) usually face various challenges when using smartphones due to their limited knowledge and the declines in memory and information processing capabilities. Many studies in HCI and CSCW communities have focused on supporting OAs to independently use smartphones. However, compared to independent exploration, support from younger family members (YFMs) has specific advantages in problem understanding, solution personalization, and security protection. However, OAs and YFMs generally have gaps in time, knowledge, and experience, affecting the efficiency of support and their experience. For this problem, we conduct a formative study to gather insights into OAs and YFMs' perspectives and expectations in the supporting procedure. Then we introduce chatbot to mediate the gaps between OAs and YFMs and build a system named WePilot to assist them to collaboratively solve smartphone usage problems. Evaluations with 12 pairs of participants (OA and corresponding YFM) suggest WePilot's strengths in improving problem solving efficiency and OAs and YFMs' experience. Based on these findings, we propose several insights into the future design of intergenerational technical support systems.