Domestication as Stabilisation: Exploring the Incorporation of Social Technology by Older Adults and Their Relatives

As health and care policies in Western societies emphasise ageing at home, loneliness among home-dwelling older adults emerges as a health-related area of intervention and technological innovation. One such intervention is Komp, a social technology designed for families to socially include an older family member struggling to use digital technology. This study couples the concepts of domestication and script to unpack the negotiations of Norwegian older adults and their relatives during Komp's introduction into their sociotechnical constellations. Utilising a multimethod longitudinal design, our inquiry produced 46 interviews, 22 photos and accompanying participant observations. From this empirical foundation, a reflexive thematic analysis was undertaken to develop our understanding of domestication trajectories. Our analysis foregrounds stability, volatility and breakdown as dynamic states involving different degrees of harmony in the negotiated meaning and use of Komp among a constellation of actors. Beyond a novel rendition of domestication as states of (in)stability, this study encourages an understanding of the effects of technological interventions as always in production, sustained by users' continuous negotiations involving the technology's scripted design, other technologies and-importantly-themselves.