Paper short abstract:

How is the social category of age and the experience of ageing crafted on & offline via smartphones, relationships and domestic arrangements? This paper explores these themes in light of the global/EU focus on 'active ageing', with case studies from the ASSA project's Irish and Italian field sites.

Paper long abstract:

At a time when ideals of 'successful' and 'active' ageing have come to dominate policy discourses on ageing worldwide, there exists significant diversity in how such notions - along with ageing itself - is actually experienced, practised, and performed. In different societies reaching the age of 50, 60, or 70 may once have marked the entry into a category such as senior or elder and may be associated with changes in life such as retirement. But today it is more open as to whether people accept such categories, or repudiate them in favour of new freedoms, which find diverse expression depending on the particular social and cultural settings. Against the backdrop of common themes that are emerging from the global ASSA project (Anthropology of Smart Phones and Smart Ageing), this paper questions if and how older people in our fieldwork sites are engaging with both local and emerging global ideas on how best to age. Specifically, how is the social category of age and the subjective experience of it actively crafted, both on- and offline, for example via smartphones, relationships, activities and domestic arrangements? In addition to a broad comparative perspective, we will explore these themes through individual case-studies from our Irish and Italian field sites.