An Anthropology of Smartphones: Communication, Ageing and Health (FutureLearn)

Learn how smartphones have changed our lives

Through ethnographic research findings, you’ll explore the potential consequences of using a smartphone every day.

You’ll examine the effect of smartphones on human relationships and participation in cultural life, as well as touch upon the current use and future potential of smartphones in the health and medical sector.

Understand the concept of smart ageing and the relationship between older people and technology

Smartphones are no longer a youth technology. They play a significant role in intergenerational relations and define ageing in the digital era. You’ll learn about the issues older people encounter when using smartphones and how technology has shaped models of ageing.

Using the latest research, you’ll find out more about ageing in different global contexts and learn how technology is shaping and changing the experience of ageing.

Discover the effect of smartphone use through the lens of digital anthropology

The course demonstrates the potential of anthropology as a discipline and will introduce you to the technicalities of using comparative anthropology as a method of research.

It also includes several new anthropological perspectives on the use of the smartphone and its impact on people’s lives.

Explore digital anthropology with UCL’s expert team

UCL is a leading research hub in the area of digital anthropology. You’ll access the latest research and insights from UCL’s expert academics on fascinating anthropological concepts and issues, including digital health and ageing.

Syllabus

Week 1: What are smartphones? How have they changed our lives?

Week 2: Ageing

Week 3: Smartphones and health

Learning on this course

You can take this self-guided course and learn at your own pace. On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.
What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

- Explore how smartphones affect everything in people’s lives from their relationships to participation in cultural life through an anthropological lens.

- Engage with and evaluate the cultural and social contexts of mobile health through ethnography.

- Discuss how discourses about ageing manifest in different global contexts, as well as how ageing is being redefined in the digital era

- Investigate different anthropological methodologies such as participant observation and holistic contextualisation, especially from a collaborative and comparative perspective.
Who is the course for?

This course is designed for people who are interested in understanding how the use of smartphones has changed our lives, as well as students keen to explore the contribution of anthropology to digital technologies.