The truth about cars. As a society, we're not getting any younger. And our driving is going to imperil us, sooner or later, as this Times article painfully illustrates.
Woohoo -- Internet usage is up. Those of us who are technology enthusiasts get all excited with this sort of data (from Pew Research, January, 2009): "The biggest increase in internet use since 2005 can be seen in the 70-75 year-old age group. While just over one-fourth (26%) of 70-75 year olds were online in 2005, 45% of that age group is currently online." And 24% of those age 75-84 are online.
For those seniors with diminishing vision, note the mention of the iPod touch with spoken commands and a GPS device that reads streets and store names aloud.
In the previous blog post, I talked about process and systems (versus gadget) approaches to promoting technologies for aging in place -- the example used was 'alerting' technologies. Marketing any system, however, must overcome the twin barriers of lack of awareness and inexperience with:
"The more things change the more they remain the same." It's been over a year since I posted a criticism of the 'gadget' approach to technologies for aging in place. Rather than randomly selected gadgets and gizmos, I suggested a more structured way of thinking about the market -- I referred to as 'the senior value chain'. Let's recap from 9/23/08 with a few additions:
At least with directory sites -- you basically know where you stand -- somewhere in them is a business model for listing long-term care housing and service directory entries, referring and being compensated for leads about those entries, and advertising. Not so with caregiving portals. Here, if there is a business motive, it's about advertising and a cut of the commerce, if any, on the site.
