According to many demographic experts, by the time we hit the year 2035, there will be more people aged 65 and older than there will be aged 18 and under. This has never happened before in the history of the United States, and it marks a huge shift in how our country’s population will be comprised. In the past, a lot of major companies have focused on marketing to the younger generations because that’s where the money is. If someone in his 20s or 30s is buying a product, they are likely to buy that product again. But because the population has been shifting so dramatically over the last several years, it no longer makes sense for companies to focus so heavily on this younger segment of the population. The senior citizen population needs to be taken more seriously for marketing purposes.
This is especially true in the tech sector. Recently, I wrote a blog piece about how Apple is now designing apps specifically for the elderly. It’s one of the first times that a major company like Apple has done something like this, and it points to this shifting focus that I just mentioned. There are way more seniors than ever before in our country, and that means a lot of money for some companies.
When done right, this isn’t a bad thing. It means that higher quality products will be created for the elderly. Capitalizing on a market gap is smart business, but only when there is competition. Otherwise, it becomes too easy for questionable companies to make lackluster products. Competition keeps tech companies honest because people will eventually only purchase the products that work, and stay away from the ones that don’t.
Also, it’s important to remember that those over age 50 are more likely to adopt technology than ever before. This means that seniors are using smartphones, smart home systems, and other high tech items that they wouldn’t have been likely to use 20 years ago (if these things had existed). Tech items are easier to use than ever before because of the intuitive design that many companies have been pursuing.
There are a lot of opportunities for tech to make elder care better. Healthcare information sharing holds a huge opportunity. Ensuring that doctors have enough access to the information that they need–especially in emergency situations–can be the difference between quality care and death in some cases. Unfortunately, healthcare information has been tough to share because of internal systems not transferring easily in the past. Better tech can fix this.
Social media also stands to improve dramatically. A lot of us use Facebook and Instagram to keep up with our friends. Seniors are doing this, too. Incorporating more safeguard to connect seniors with the ones they love while keeping them safe will likely be a priority moving into the future.
Incorporating more technology into the care of a loved one can be helpful, but it’s not going to work with every family in every situation. We all have an obligation to help our loved ones get great care, regardless of how tech fits in.
Leave a Reply