Understanding Older Adults’ Willingness to Adopt Voice Assistants for Social Wellness

Overview

Social isolation and loneliness are significant concerns among older adults, and conversational technologies such as voice assistants are increasingly being explored as tools that could support social engagement. However, it remains unclear how older adults themselves evaluate the idea of using these systems for social purposes and what factors influence their willingness to adopt them. In this research project, we investigated how older adults perceive the potential role of voice assistants in supporting social wellness. We conducted 35 semi-structured interviews with residents of an independent senior living community to understand their attitudes toward using voice assistants for companionship and social participation. Using qualitative thematic analysis, we examined how participants reasoned about potential benefits, concerns, and acceptable roles for these technologies.

Tools & Methods

Key Outcomes

• Conditional adoption: Older adults showed cautious openness to voice assistants, with willingness to try them depending on clear personal benefits and relevance to their daily lives.
• Usefulness drives interest: Participants were more receptive to voice assistants that supported practical needs such as reminders, accessibility, or coordinating activities.
• Independence matters: Many participants preferred technologies that support their autonomy rather than systems positioned as substitutes for human relationships.
• Interaction effort affects adoption: Concerns about remembering commands, learning the system, and maintaining interactions influenced willingness to use voice assistants.
• Facilitation over companionship: Most participants did not view voice assistants as social companions but saw potential value when they helped support social participation.
• Two forms of support emerged: Participants envisioned voice assistants supporting social life through indirect facilitation (reducing logistical effort) and direct facilitation (helping organize or coordinate social activities).