Khushi: Technology among senior citizens
Although seniors consistently have lower rates of technology adoption than the general public, this group is more digitally connected than ever. In fact, some groups of seniors — such as those who are younger, more affluent and more highly educated — report owning and using various technologies at rates similar to adults under the age of 65.
http://www.pewinternet.org/2017/05/17/technology-use-among-seniors/
The expanding utilization of the internet and technology by the baby boomers and silent generation (age 70 and above) have shattered many stereotypes. However, there are still some allegations against the oldies for not going fully digital. Here are some of them:
- It’s difficult for older adults to adapt to new technology
- Seniors have restricted enthusiasm for picking up anything new
- Elderly health issues such as hearing impairment, dwindling eyesight, shaky hands or other chronic disease act as a hindrance for them to go digital
- Fear of online frauds
- Lack of understanding the complexities of technology
- The generation gap between tech-savvy youngsters and seniors
However, in reality, technology has indeed opened up a whole new world in front of the seniors. Boomers and seniors are using a variety of devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops and wearables to manage and enhance their daily lives.
Let’s take a quick look at some of the factors, which are making seniors adapt to technology, thus helping them to lead a safer and healthier life:
- They can keep in touch with family near and far through social media, Skype, FaceTime or email
- It helps the seniors to battle against loneliness and isolation, increases cognitive capacity, reduces panic and encourages positive thinking
- Several advanced GPS tracking devices monitor the location of an old adult and send alarms to caregivers or distant families if there should be an occurrence of any crisis
- The recreational benefits of using the internet for games and videos improve mental health and expand the attention of the seniors
- Easy access to apps help them solve day-to-day problems such as paying bills, ordering grocery, setting medical alerts, managing finances, tracking fitness and heart-rate, booking doctors’ appointments and etc
- Technology helps them to live independently especially in case of home monitoring
- Usage of technology and the internet provide the elderly, especially with reduced mobility, with an emotional outlet, which helps in lessening depression
- They remained well informed about the latest happenings in the world and remain entertained
Let’s check some devices, services, and systems helpful for the seniors:
– Eddy Health Alert
– TabSafe
– TV Ears
– Personal Emergency Response System (PERS)
– Reminder Rosie
– BeClose
– Amazon Echo
Age is not stopping seniors from using technology. It’s simply a question of interest. Technology is keeping the older adults stay connected, active, engaged and informed. Indeed, technological innovation is making life less difficult, better and more secure for the old era with easy-to-use gadgets and devices. Today, more than half of the older people are accessing the Internet and the good news is that usage is set to rise to over 70 % in 2020 and up to 90 % by 2030.
Yes, agreed, some seniors might need time to adjust to the latest technological advancements. But on International Day of Families, let us remember that it is the responsibility of the younger generation to make the old folks aware and guide them towards a digital life. It’s time we all embrace technology, or we will be left behind.
https://www.indusnet.co.in/complete-guide-seniors-using-technology/
Independence: That is what old people want.
https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20151130.052006/full
Case studies:
Barbara Deskind: A better walker
WSJ: Do you have any ideas for products for older people that don’t exist today?
MS. BESKIND: How about a device that can keep people from fracturing a hip? I would be interested in airbags that could be worn. I worked on a prototype, with five different sizes of hair curlers that come out from a waistband. But I couldn’t get a power source that could inflate them fast enough.
I’d also like to see a new addition to the telephone. Today, you have volume control on the receiver. What we should have is speed control. I get a message on the machine, and they leave a 13-digit phone number to call back. I am listening, and I have to grab a pen, and sometimes people talk so fast. Slowing down messages would be good.
Instead of a walker, Ms Beskind uses ski poles she modified to encourage upright posture and a dynamic gait. PHOTO: NICOLAS ZURCHER/IDEO
Also, a lot of people who care for the elderly come from other countries and speak only rudimentary English. For people who are sick and bedridden, it can be very frustrating. We should have translation technology, a device where you speak into it in one language and it comes out in another.
WSJ: Are there products for older people out today that you think could be better?
MS. BESKIND: I’m concerned about older people maintaining good balance. We need dynamic walkers. The regular walkers encourage poor posture and balance issues. People lean on walkers. There’s a need for that, but there’s also a need to stand upright and have a dynamic gait.
I use walking sticks that I designed myself. The bottoms of the sticks have rockers, like rocking chairs, instead of a cane-tip. They give me a push-off. It’s almost like floating. You see, a walker just signals that you’re old or disabled or dysfunctional. My walking sticks are modified ski poles. When people see me, they ask if I’m headed to the slopes.
Higher-tech glasses
WSJ: Do you think you could design better hearing aids for older people?
MS BESKIND: As a close observer of elders who need hearing assistance, I think there needs to be something that could be regulated externally. I envision a simple surgical implant behind each ear — perhaps a conductor or electrode — that would receive signals from an external control device that might be worn in a pants pocket or on a retractable cord pinned to [clothing] fabric.
Control for background noise and close conversation tones, pitch, etc., could be refined by those experienced in the field. There would be no discomfort when sleeping on one side, and because the hearing aid wouldn’t be removed at night, there would be no risk of the person missing an emergency call or fire.
WSJ: Any ideas for better eyeglasses?
MS BESKIND: I’d like to see a camera mounted on the bridge of glasses. I’m legally blind, myself. A camera could give enhanced visual accuracy that lenses don’t give. A camera could help with peripheral vision. Also, how about a photo-identity [feature] for people who are approaching? And voice-recognition technology? Politicians might want this too!
WSJ: What is your opinion of the mobility scooters that many older people use these days?
MS BESKIND: If you need it, use it. But there’s been a big ad campaign for a lot of people who don’t really need them. The scooters are used too often. Try to keep your balance and your circulation. Don’t prematurely [opt for a scooter]. These scooters don’t keep up your physical health.
WSJ: The trend nowadays is to put sensors inside of medical devices and orthopaedic equipment, sensors that collect information and send it to doctors and family members. Is this an idea that older people are comfortable with?
MS BESKIND: It just depends on the person. Generally speaking, baby boomers will be faster to accept technology as an answer than will people in my age group. But anything that really helps — say, a technology that can send information to doctors — is likely to be readily accepted by everyone.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/technology-innovations-that-could-help-the-elderly-1435245122
There are many aspects of technology design for senior citizens that remain unaddressed. Old age brings along with it a decrease in certain capabilities, specifically:
• The decline in cognitive function — the ability to think, focus, generate ideas, remember and the speed of information processing is likely to be reduced.
• The decline in vision — focusing on objects, colour matching, decreased visibility in the dark and sensitivity to colour may become difficult as people age. Senior citizens may also be prone to eye diseases such as cataracts, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma.
• The decline in hearing — the ability to distinguish sounds and high pitched consonants are reduced.
• The decline in motor functions and the weakening of muscles and bones, leading to frequent falls.
https://www.huffingtonpost.in/ss-bassi/why-technology-needs-to-e_b_8086670.html
Old people living alone :
This was revealed in Census 2011 data on the number of elder ..
Read more at:
Across the States, there is a substantial variation in the type of living arrangement, particularly in the proportion of elderly persons living alone. The percentage of those living alone or with a spouse is as high as 45 per cent in Tamil Nadu, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Kerala. This indicates that with a demographic transition underway and youth migrating out for economic reasons, there will be a drastic change in the living arrangements of the elderly in rural and urban areas. The large segment of the elderly, those living alone or with spouse only, and the widowed who are illiterate, poor and particularly those from the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe families, low wealth quintiles will definitely require various kinds of support: economic, social and psychological. These, at present, are woefully lacking.
The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment put in place the National Policy on Older Persons in 1999 with a view to addressing issues relating to ageing in a comprehensive manner. But the programme failed at the implementation level. The Ministry is now formulating a new policy that is expected to address the concerns of the elderly. The idea is to help them live a productive and dignified life. There is a scheme of grant-in-aid of the Integrated Programme for Older Persons, under which financial assistance is provided to voluntary organisations for running and maintaining projects. These include old-age homes, day-care centres and physiotherapy clinics. While the scheme, indeed the concept, is still alien to India, the Ministry is considering the revision of cost norms for these projects, keeping in view the rising cost of living.
The most recent intervention has been the introduction of the National Programme for Health Care for the Elderly in 2010, with the basic aim to provide separate and specialised comprehensive health care to senior citizens. The major components of this programme are establishing geriatric departments in eight regional geriatric centres and strengthening health care facilities for the elderly at various levels in 100 districts. Though the scheme is proposed to be expanded during the Twelfth Five Year Plan, the regional geriatric centres are yet to take off because of lack of space in the identified institutions.
Health, depression and sociability:
Ageing is a series of processes that begin with life and continue throughout the life cycle. It represents the closing period in the lifespan, a time when the individual looks back on life, lives on past accomplishments and begins to finish off his life course. Adjusting to the changes that accompany old age requires that an individual is flexible and develops new coping skills to adapt to the changes that are common to this time in their lives (Warnick, 1995).
The definition of ‘health’ with regard to old age is a subject of debate. There is a consensus that health in old age cannot meaningfully be defined as the absence of disease because the prevalence of diagnosable disorders in elderly populations is high. Instead, health is considered to be multifaceted: The diagnosis of disease should be complemented by an assessment of discomfort associated with symptoms (e.g., pain), life threat, treatment consequences (e.g., side effects of medication), functional capacity and subjective health evaluations (Borchelt et al., 1999). Furthermore, Rowe & Khan (1987) suggested that the health of subgroups of older adults be defined in terms of their status relative to age and cohort norms.
There is a growing body of evidence that suggests that psychological and sociological factors have a significant influence on how well individuals age. Ageing research has demonstrated a positive correlation between someone’s religious beliefs, social relationships, perceived health, self-efficacy, socioeconomic status and coping skills, among others, with their ability to age more successfully.
Depression or the occurrence of depressive symptomatology is a prominent condition amongst older people, with a significant impact on the well-being and quality of life. Many studies have demonstrated that the prevalence of depressive symptoms increases with age (Kennedy, 1996). Depressive symptoms not only have an important place as indicators of psychological well-being but are also recognized as significant predictors of functional health and longevity. Longitudinal studies demonstrate that increased depressive symptoms are significantly associated with increased difficulties with activities of daily living (Penninx et al., 1998). Community-based data indicate that older persons with major depressive disorders are at increased risk of mortality (Bruce, 1994). There are also studies that suggest that depressive disorders may be associated with a reduction in cognitive functions (Speck et al., 1995).
Though the belief persists that depression is synonymous with ageing and that depression is, in fact, inevitable, there has been recent research which dispels this faulty notion. Depression has a causal link to numerous social, physical and psychological problems. These difficulties often emerge in older adulthood, increasing the likelihood of depression; yet depression is not a normal consequence of these problems. Studies have found that age isn’t always significantly related to the level of depression and that the oldest of olds may even have better-coping skills to deal with depression, making depressive symptoms more common but not as severe as in younger populations.
When the onset of depression first occurs in an earlier life, it is more likely that there are genetic, personality and life experience factors that have contributed to the depression. Depression that first develops in later life is more likely to bear some relationship to physical health problems. An older person in good physical health has a relatively low risk of depression. Physical health is indeed the major cause of depression in late life. There are many reasons for this, which include the psychological effects of living with an illness and disability, the effects of chronic pain; the biological effects of some conditions and medications that can cause depression through direct effects on the brain; and the social restrictions that some illnesses place upon older people’s lifestyle resulting in isolation and loneliness.
The project was done as a part of a college assignment with Chinmayee Murugkar and Manasi Kulkarni.
