Technology - AARP

One might think that the Consumer Electronics Show is about consumer electronics.  Not really. It is about tech concepts and possibilities, and possibly new or near-term products, that can lead to future products and/or distribution in the market. Whether in TVs, cars, drones, wearables, accessibility tech, home appliances or headsets, this international show with its 150,000 attendees has an ‘AI Everywhere’ (surprise!) theme. Attendees help both startups and established players to gain media and market attention and maybe even meet a few distribution partners or funders.  Here are 10 from this year’s show:

What caught our attention in 2024 in the older adult aging and health tech market?  By the end of the year of 2024, heading into CES 2025, AI, or at least the term ‘AI’ has caught the eye of all, from scammers to overpriced startups to overspending investors.   It all is reminiscent of previous years of hysteria over the web, the cloud, voice, and so on.  As we head towards CES 2025, where an enter new class graduates into the booths and brouhaha, here is a look back at 2024’s most notable blog posts:

Each of several recent years, AARP has surveyed older adults about tech use. This year’s report is remarkable – they created a new online survey segment, the 80+ age range.  Responses were not too surprising. There was skepticism about whether tech can enable a healthy life – the percentage dropping among those aged 70+ since last year. Perhaps they know that a healthy life also depends on diet and exercise – and that 40% of Americans 65+ are obese. Remember that only 23% of adults aged 65+ exercise in accordance with federal guidelines.  Those guidelines include 2 days per week of strength training, which helps retain muscle mass, improve balance and reduce risk from falls.  

Kudos to AARP - life expectancy impacts tech adoption. For the first time in their published research, AARP’s 2025 report provides insights into the tech adoption and preferences of older adults aged 80+. With life expectancy at 65 extending to an additional 20 years, this change reveals business opportunities to serve that age group, including tech-enabled services (like high speed Internet access), health-related devices and services, and most particularly training, as the survey reveals.  

The tech user experience – still flawed and in need of fixing.  As noted in the May report, The User Experience Needs an Upgrade, the requirement to use smartphones and other tech is growing exponentially – in-person and by-telephone experiences have disappeared or deteriorated.  Yet there are few useful ways to help older adults navigate the thicket of user interfaces, and this only becomes more obvious as AI capabilities emerge that could be extremely useful, but finding and understanding them is, well, work.  Frustration bubbles up here and there – AARP’s 2024 Tech Trends and Adults 50+ noted that only 61% of adults aged 70+ felt they had the digital skills to fully take advantage of being online. 

Is aging in place a smart strategy? Here we go again.  In a brand new and similarly rosy article in the Wall Street Journal, more of the same mediocre advice is offered about how to prepare. Have a frank talk with family members. Maybe do some home modifications (those rickety stairs? Or a $20,000+ elevator), or address that lengthy distance from a supermarket? Maybe the 3-4% of older adults with long-term care insurance will pay for home care that averages $24,000/month for round-the-clock care.  Hmmm. Or voice-activated devices, says an AARP exec, will be helpful for his long-distance aging parents. Says a family, we want Mom to stay in her house, and so we pay $4000 per month for care, because staying in her house is keeping her alive. Really.

Surveys were released recently that trigger some debate.  Consider whether the low adoption of health-related tech is due to flaws with the tech or with the survey questions?  AARP’s responders only had notable interest in fitness apps, though 63% of responders had chronic conditions that could usefully be monitored or mitigated by apps if the survey took a deeper dive. Do we really know from this non-specific survey whether older adults are trying them out? Up next was the Best Buy survey of consumer health tech – and again some irony in the responses.  Sixty-seven percent of the 65+ responders said that staying in their homes is a top priority. Yet when asked about the utility of monitoring technology for use in later life, the 65+ segment was the least interested among age cohorts, a clear “What me, worry?”  Here are the blog posts from August 2024: