{"id":83975,"date":"2026-04-27T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T06:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/?p=83975"},"modified":"2026-04-26T20:18:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T02:18:06","slug":"how-age-tech-might-help-you-grow-old-at-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/how-age-tech-might-help-you-grow-old-at-home\/","title":{"rendered":"How ‘age tech’ might help you grow old at home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"How<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Megan Jack, a neurosurgeon in Cleveland, often works 60 or 70 hours a week. And she\u2019s completely unavailable when she\u2019s in the operating room. That makes it tough to be a caregiver for her 76-year-old mother, who lives in a separate unit on Dr. Jack\u2019s property, 30 minutes away from the hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To help care for her mother, who has Alzheimer\u2019s disease, Dr. Jack uses an array of high-tech tools, some of which didn\u2019t exist just a few years ago. She manages her mother\u2019s medications with a smart pill box. She changes her television channels with an app, sends appointment reminders through a digital message board \u2014 and, with her mother\u2019s blessing, uses cameras for communication and monitoring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been invaluable that I can both make sure she\u2019s safe and make sure everything is going well,\u201d Dr. Jack said, \u201cbut also give her the independence and the freedom that she still deserves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

America is aging rapidly. Roughly 11,000 people are turning 65 each day in the United States. And many of them \u2014 75 percent of people over 50, according to AARP\u2019s most recent survey, from 2024 \u2014 hope to spend their remaining years in the comfort of their homes, rather than in assisted-living or other care facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing that could help fulfill those wishes is the budding field of \u201cage tech,\u201d which encompasses tools that support older adults. Industry experts say that age tech is making homes safer for older adults and is easing the minds of their caregivers, especially those who live far away or work outside the home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Jack said that age tech had \u201creally allowed me to integrate caregiving into my life, as opposed to caregiving taking over my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The age tech boom<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If older adults don\u2019t have loved ones who are both close by and able to help, they might believe they don\u2019t have a ton of options. They can live independently, or, if they can afford it and qualify medically, they can move to an assisted-living facility or a nursing home, without a lot of choices in between. In-home help can be expensive without Medicaid and can also be difficult to find, given the serious shortage of home care workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Age tech can help bridge some important gaps, said Emily Nabors, the associate director of innovation at the National Council on Aging, a nonprofit advocacy group. Already, AARP reports that 25 percent of caregivers are remotely monitoring their loved ones with apps, videos or wearables, nearly double the percentage from five years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe used to say homes are the health care settings of the future, but they really are health care settings now,\u201d Ms. Nabors said. \u201cAging in place is very realistic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 700 companies are in AARP\u2019s AgeTech Collaborative, a group that connects businesses, nonprofits and funders to help get new technologies off the ground. Altogether, the collaborative\u2019s start-ups have raised nearly $1 billion in the past four years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The products include smart walkers, glasses with lenses that provide real-time captions of conversations for those with hearing issues, and a concierge service that connects older people to drivers and deliveries, even if they don\u2019t have a smartphone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Nabors does foresee some affordability and access barriers to age tech, including the lack of high-speed internet in rural areas, but she said one vital resource would be local aging agencies, which can offer advice and, sometimes, free support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Janet Marasa leaned on the agency near her home in Rockland County, N.Y., to get a free robotic pet for her mother, Carol DeMaio, 80, who has dementia. The pets, manufactured by a company called Ageless Innovation, aim to offer emotional support without the upkeep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. DeMaio named the robotic dog Sabrina, after a golden retriever who died. The new Sabrina stays at the foot of her bed at night. As soon as Ms. DeMaio stirs awake, the dog reacts. \u201cShe said it gives her a reason to get up in the morning,\u201d Ms. Marasa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dog has been a boon to her, too. \u201cIt provides comfort and interaction that I can\u2019t provide every second,\u201d said Ms. Marasa, who lives with her mother but works full time for the county government. \u201cIt gives her something that she can feel like is totally her own.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Broward County, Fla., where the population of residents over 85 is expected to nearly triple over the next few decades, the local agency on aging has used state and federal money and private grants to provide technologies to nearly 4,000 of the county\u2019s seniors at no cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its offerings include a company that uses radar to sense falls and a program that allows seniors to make video calls through their televisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe possibilities are endless,\u201d Charlotte Mather-Taylor, the agency\u2019s chief executive, said. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty great to see all the new technology coming out so quickly, and I think that can only benefit our older population and also our caregivers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here comes A.I.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even technologies not specifically marketed as age tech can help older adults maintain their independence, said Laurie Orlov, founder of the blog Aging and Health Technology Watch. She pointed to video-calling and telehealth platforms; remotely controlled thermostats and lights; and smart speakers, doorbells and watches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll technology can be customized to help older adults stay longer in their homes and help their family members feel good about it, or at least tolerate it,\u201d Ms. Orlov said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That will only become more true with the continued proliferation of artificial intelligence, Ms. Orlov added. Some older adults are already using conversational A.I. to get answers about things like the weather or their medications. (Relying too heavily on A.I. can, however, have negative consequences because chatbots often give flawed medical advice and can lead patients astray.) A.I. can also assist in pattern detection: alerting caregivers to signals that might indicate declines in someone\u2019s cognition or mental health, such as changing their speech pattern or leaving the house less frequently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One A.I.-powered age tech tool is ElliQ, a tabletop companion robot that looks like a sleek silver desk lamp with a screen. About a year and a half ago, Camille Wolsonovich got one for free, thanks to a local nonprofit, for her 90-year-old father, Bill Castellano. He lives alone in a senior community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Wolsonovich, who runs a consulting business, relies on ElliQ to lead her father in exercises and remind him to take his pills and drink water. The robot also asks her father about his sleep and mood via automated check-ins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverything\u2019s just another layer that gives us more confidence, from a caregiving standpoint, that he\u2019s good,\u201d Ms. Wolsonovich said. \u201cI don\u2019t have to necessarily track everything all the time and be overbearing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for Mr. Castellano? He plays trivia digitally and converses daily with ElliQ. The robot, which has a friendly female voice, asks questions, cracks jokes and remembers his likes, dislikes and friends. \u201cShe\u2019s great company,\u201d he said. \u201cEverybody around me wants one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about ethical concerns?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clara Berridge studies the ethics of age tech at the University of Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She has many privacy concerns, namely that most direct-to-consumer products aren\u2019t subject to medical privacy laws, despite being privy to sensitive health information. Though she hopes the federal government will eventually step in to regulate these products, as it has in other countries, the onus remains on the consumer for now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And even if an age tech product isn\u2019t selling mom\u2019s personal data to the lowest bidder, Dr. Berridge said there\u2019s still the question of whether certain tools are ethical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really important for caregivers to recognize that using these new technologies that give them more information about someone can represent greater intrusion into someone\u2019s life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What may be well-intentioned monitoring could reveal information that an older adult would rather keep private, such as issues with incontinence, or the comings and goings of a romantic partner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt can lead to somebody feeling infantilized,\u201d Dr. Berridge said. \u201cLike there\u2019s not a place to hide within your own home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her research shows that adult children often underestimate how much their parents can understand about technology and how much they want to be involved in tech-related decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She encouraged caregivers to have transparent conversations about privacy implications and to avoid ultimatums or the idea that any decision must be permanent. She said caregivers should put themselves in their parents\u2019 shoes: Is this something they\u2019d want their own children monitoring?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Berridge is working on an advanced directive for technology, which outlines older people\u2019s wishes for how technology is used in their care. Ultimately, she hopes that questions about age tech will become a standard part of planning for the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re at the start of what, for many people, ends up being a long road of supporting someone potentially through the end of their life,\u201d she said, \u201cseeking to understand each other\u2019s concerns and priorities better is time very well spent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n