Seniors

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.  

Touch screens are an unending aggravation. Study the iPhone commands, for example.  Push up to get the display, pull down to select ‘Do not disturb’, but not too hard, because many other options appear. Push sideways, to change screens, move an icon around the screen, and, well, you know what happens then. Of course, knowing these choices is based on experience (and experimentation over time), not based on any training.  So what if you encounter the device for the first time?  Your hands shake just a bit, and you remember how much you liked having a keyboard…You wonder, are there ways to train new (and older) users on how to use touch screens – and for that matter, the essentials of the device? And will Siri’s voice commands overcome the touch screen’s limitations? Yes, actually.

It’s a bad sign when you get a warning from Amazon about Prime scams.  Shopping online has definitely deteriorated when you receive a desperate email from Amazon warning about Amazon Prime scams.  But their advice is worrisome – you should check Amazon Messages to verify that a message is really from Amazon?  How hard can it be for a scammer to fake messages that look like they’re from Amazon? Did you know that Amazon Prime Day is a big day for scammers? The Better Business Bureau warns about lookalike websites, too-good-to-be-true social media ads, and unsolicited emails or calls during sales events this month. You might not know that "1,230 new websites that associated themselves with Amazon popped up in June. The vast majority were malicious or appeared suspicious, according to Check Point."

For those few who still have landline phones, scammers make them ring. It has become a source of entertainment in our home to string scam callers past the bot to the frenetic-sounding call center. Or we just let the phone ring 3 times – bots have limited patience. But there is one benefit of having an actual conversation with a call center rep, as well as watching TV Medicare Advantage advertising. These unsolicited caller scripts (‘is anyone in the home between the ages of 65 and 85?’) and ads are built on stereotypes of older adults (mostly women) and the premise that they are just plain stupid. Apparently they can’t do their own research and are desperate for advice. By the way, if CMS is ‘restricting’ Medicare Advantage plan advertising, that is not yet visible to a TV viewer.