pp. 117-148

Rather than query about the under-equipping of « old-aged people » in « technical objects » and explain it in terms of « resistance to changes », this article puts forward the hypothesis of the rationality of use and non-use of the older-aged population. Semi-directive interviews with a double sample (60-year-old retired people living in couples ; widows and widowers, more in their 70s) and based on a diversified selection of technical appliances, firstly made apparent four « logics of use » around which the interviews were run : a logic of use, a logic of identity, a logic of mediation and a logic of evaluation. These four logics were then used as analysis keys, to relate the evolution of the use during the aging process, which itself is based on a double process : on the one hand, the occupation of successive positions in the story of life (the first years of retirement, losing one’s husband/wife) ; on the other hand, the effects that are a direct result of age (physical deficiency ; the realization of finiteness ; detachment). Finally, it was possible to outline a classification of technical objects according to these logics of use.