Publicly available up-to-date stats about the older adult population is weak or non-existent. The most recent version of ChatGPT admits it cannot state the current population in the US that is aged 75+. Nor can Google. This is somewhat surprising, given the angst in business and market predictions about the aging of the US population and the potential doom that it portends. But anyway, the answer is buried in Census tables. Would you be surprised to learn that there are 25.7 million people aged 75+ today? That 14.8 million are women and 10.8 million are men? Would it surprise that 42% of the 65+ population (60.5 million) is aged 75+?
The more things change. January 2024 brought announcements, updates and a plethora of new tech, some a dream in the eye of a startup, some in the market and some likely to improve lives, if not right away than soon. In fact, the most intriguing aspect of the month of CES 2024 was how much like previous events it was – and yet it was the first post-Covid big event, and the first for many new to the tech industry. Also 2024 is shaping up to be a big year of change for the older adults-tech market – some actually think it is disappearing into the tech market for all. Maybe! Here are the six blog posts from January 2024:
Is the user experience deteriorating? Tech user experience experts focus on everyone except older adults. But there’s a problem: from AARP’s tech trends survey from 2024 and their 2023 guidance from AARP on inclusive design practices, it’s clear and as the AARP report notes, “No one prefers badly designed, over-complicated products.” Despite preferences, surveys show that today’s user experience for older adults is more problematic than ever. All are confronted with buggy software and frequent bug fix releases, such a problem on iPhones that an embarrassed Apple redirected software work towards fixing. And Google is no better with Pixel phones.
Palo Alto, CA. [Jan 25, 2024] - Caspar.AI, an innovator in AI-driven remote healthcare technology, today announced the worldwide launch of its Contactless Vitals & Real-Time Bed Monitoring Solutions. Leveraging 150 billion data points about home behaviors, Caspar.AI's patient-centric models enable remote healthcare providers to extend their services into both facilities and home environments effectively.
This report was revised in January of 2024. It was updated to reflect current trends, demographic data about older adults, policy changes, new products and services as well as inclusion of available data about what tech they own and/or prefer. The final section with examples includes 30 offerings and services new for this report, indicated by **.