Individual Interview #1 — Sophie Brown
Type: Individual Phone Interview
Date: 2/26/17
Subject: Denise Brown
User: For my first ethnographic interview, I chose to interview my mom. She is 57 years old and lives in the Bay Area. She has been a stay-at-home mom for my entire life, but before my twin sister and I were born in 1996, she worked at an insurance company for about 15 years. She has been married to my dad since 1988, and currently stays at home taking care of the house and my dog when my dad is working. She has been in more of a transitional phase over the past few years and is adjusting to having less day-to-day responsibility since my twin sister and I are both away at college. Both of her parents are still alive, but they live in Las Vegas so she only sees them in person 2 or 3 times a year.
During the interview, we talked about how she uses technology in her daily life, and her level of comfort with various technological items. We talked about her current health, and discussed her aging parents, and how she plans to move forward with their healthcare plans as they continue to grow older. We then discussed how she would feel about incorporating technology, IoT, and tracking devices into her healthcare plan for my grandparents.
Daily Technology Use:
- What tech products do you use every day? iPhone, iPad, desktop computer, TV, car console
- What do you mainly use technology for on a day-to-day basis? Mostly for entertainment purposes.
- “That’s my #1 thing I use technology for”
- “Not to help me during the day, but to entertain me during the day”
- Fact-finding — news, asking questions. Day-to-day life — maps, navigation, weather
- Still uses a paper calendar
- How comfortable do you feel using technology? Far from second nature
- “I’m kind of scared of technology. I don’t want to try to figure something out on my own because I’m afraid of breaking it”
- Example — My dad wanted to buy a new Keurig machine. “I think we are fine with what we have and we don’t need it. I don’t think it’s going to add anything beneficial to my life, so why not stick with the old machine? I’m never racing to get a new product and figure out something new. It’s kind of a hassle, and I don’t think that everything that is brand new is best. Unless something breaks, I don’t see the point in getting something new.”
- Takeaway: Concerning technology, my mom would much rather stick with something that is comfortable and familiar. She likes to” know what the expectation is.” To her, consistency and reliability are important, and she values “not having to learn a new thing.” In my opinion, I think she gets intimidated by technology that she has never used before, so she would rather stick with something she knows, even if it means missing out on the benefits of new technology.
Personal Health:
- Are you monitoring or tracking anything concerning your health right now? Right now, she is not monitoring anything.
- “If I were to go to a doctor, they would tell me facts like my weight, blood pressure, and things like that. But day-to-day, I do not really track anything.”
- Would you be interested in using a device to track your health statistics?
- “I’m not interested in something that I would have to physically put information into, because it wouldn’t be sustainable. I would get sick of it after a few days. I would be more interested in something that [would track my health statistics] automatically.”
- Takeaway — My mom does not feel like she needs to monitor her health at this point.
Parents’ Healthcare:
- What are your thoughts on your parents’ current health and healthcare plan? Overall, pretty comfortable and not too worried at the moment.
- “I’m pretty comfortable with what has happened with [my parents] so far, and feel like they’ve been on top of everything. Us 4 kids have reviewed things during the process. They’re till pretty sharp mentally and have their faculties about them, so I believe what they tell me, and basically agree with what they’re doing to take care of themselves.
- “I think the scale would be tipped if their mental capacities become diminished and they start not looking at their situation realistically.”
- Do you think it would be beneficial for you to receive a daily check-up from them concerning their physical health? Would you be interested in receiving that? She does think this would be beneficial, and is definitely interested.
- “I do think a daily check up is beneficial — not to keep track of me, but to keep track of my parents. It would help me keep tabs on them because they are so elderly and live far away.”
- Do you feel like you have a good idea of their health, even from far away?
- “I feel like I have a pretty good read on their health from far away. Also, having one of my siblings there to see them Vegas makes me feel better and gives me a level of comfort”
- When they have had surgery and medical issues in the past, have you ever been in touch with their doctors, nurses, or caregivers directly?
- “No, I haven’t ever really been in touch with their doctors or nurses when they have had medical issues. I basically trust everything they tell me, and don’t really feel the need to check up with their doctors. At this point, I wouldn’t be interested.”
- How tech-savvy would you consider your parents? How comfortable are they with technology?
- “Honestly, my mom is way more tech-savvy than I am. She knows how to use social media, and I don’t really know it. I know more than my dad, though. He still has a flip phone.”
- How receptive and able do you think your parents would be to adopt new technology?
- “Dad would never pick up a new tech thing. My mom probably would faster than me”
- I know this is a little bit down the line right now, but what would make you feel like they would have to move to a nursing home?
- “The number one thing for me would be their physical safety, especially since they live in a two-story house. Right now they’re doing fine, but I could see that being an issue down the road. If I felt like they needed more constant medical attention or if I wanted them to be monitored constantly, then I might start thinking about it”
- “They both still have each other, so social reasons would be way down the line.”
- “I don’t really have any concerns about them taking their medication right now, and they don’t really have ongoing health problems, so I don’t see the need right now.”
- Would you be interested in a product that would track their health statistics and send these to you and their doctors, kind of like the daily check-up that we were talking about? “I would definitely be appreciative of a product like this to track everything and connect them to their doctors. Especially because I don’t live with them, it would really give me peace of mind.”
- Takeaway: Right now, my grandparents are in pretty good health, so my mom is usually not that worried about how they are doing on a day-to-day basis. However, she definitely thinks that a daily “check-in” would be really beneficial. She is interested in a product that would give her a quick idea of how her parents were doing, so she could have a better sense of their well-being from far away. Wouldn’t do it for herself, but would do it for her parents. She feels pretty confident in my grandma’s ability to adopt new technology, and would be very interested in technology that would track my grandparents’ health.
After analyzing our conversation, I used the 5E framework to predict how my mom would respond to using an IoT product to help her monitor her parents’ health.
Entice:
My mom’s main “entice” point for using IoT would be to monitor her parent’s health. She expressed basically no interest in using it for herself, but would definitely be interested if a product could track her parent’s health statistics for her.
Enter:
Getting my mom to use the product — “entering” the experience — seems like it would potentially be the hardest part for us. She is very hesitant to adopt new technology, and often gets intimidated by new technology products that she has never used before. Our product would need to be very simple to set up and use, and not seem like too much of a “hassle” for my mom to learn how to use.
Engage:
Our product would optimally keep my mom engaged without requiring much effort from her. Since she is uninterested in deliberately tracking statistics and having to constantly “keep up” with a product, my mom’s ideal product would update her automatically without requiring her to do much.
Extend:
I chose to eliminate the “Exit” phase from the experience, because ideally this product would stay with my mom as she gets older as well. While she is a long way away from needing or wanting to monitor her vital health statistics, this product would optimally also be able to track her health one day. An IoT tracking product has the potential to become a vital part of a person’s life through many different stages, and can both track one’s own vital statistics and update on the health of loved ones.