Aims to double weekly care volume.
Seekers of Meaning Podcast Posted Online March 7, 2025
What's Next Longevity Deal Talk Episode 32, January, 2025
What's Next Longevity Venture Summit, June, 2025
Microsoft and AARP -- boomers and technology. Yesterday's New York Times 'Bits' blog summarized a study dated October, 2009 -- funded by Microsoft and AARP and conducted through 60 dinner interviews in four cities of boomers age 50-60. The comments posted on the NY Times website are more revealing (and scathing) about what boomers really want from technology (and as an added bonus, how younger folks really can't stand self-interested boomers). I suggest that rev 2 of this study analyze these and release an addendum.
What this means -- interesting, enjoyable, worrisome. It's very appealing to pull out a decade demographic range, hold a focus group (or 4) and summarize the results -- potentially distracting tech companies into scrutiny because of the Microsoft-AARP sponsorship. But let's pick a worrisome element: under high-tech healthcare, "helping elderly parents stay at home -- so-called aging-in-place -- especially when the caregiver is at a distance." The 'futurist' concept was "equipping a senior's home with sensors that monitor activity, perhaps even with one or two-way video." This technology isn't the future -- it exists now. So the interviewee whose mother's apartment had $100,000 worth of flood damage -- get a move on, you can find it. And vendors: please get in there and comment on the NY Times article and say it's so! A million NY Times readers should hear it from you.
Finally, don't forget to read the great trend survey studies, like AARP's Healthy@Home, or Pew Research's Generations Online, that will quantify how baby boomers (and their parents) feel about technology.
Comments
What Boomers Want
Good post!
I found it strange that they seem not to distinguish between Boomers and the parents of Boomers. At this point, most Boomers are not themselves the elderly; many of them, especially the younger Boomers, are caring for elderly parents.
Boomers are the generation that invented and adopted the PC and the Web. It's not as if they cringe at technology, and they continue to drive trends in technology adoption. Insisting on ease of use is not a sign of dementia; it has been an issue since the PC was invented.
Jim Reynlds
Caring Companion Connections
www.CaringCompanion.Net
Elder care, Alzheimers care, Home Companions
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Aging in place maybe not best
Your comments and links to further analysis on the contradiction between the 'aging in place' goal, and the toll it takes on older people and their families--if any--merits far more honest discussion. Most of us know the personal, emotional costs we pay, wondering when the next crisis will happen and if what you are doing for your parent is best. Can we get beyond this and think up some alternate models to 'facilities' and 'nursing homes'? We need to break the mold on this one.