From video chats with family to smart medication reminders, technology for seniors can make their daily life safer, easier, and more connected. The key isn’t buying every new gadget on the market – it’s choosing user-friendly tools, setting them up well, and offering simple support so your loved one feels confident using them. Here’s a practical plan from our expert team at Innovation Senior Living to introduce senior living technology for safety, social connection and independence.
Technology for Seniors: Start with Needs, Not Devices
Before you start purchasing or downloading technology for senior loved ones, do a quick audit of their needs. Ask questions like:
- Safety: Is fall risk a concern for your loved one? Are medications being missed?
- Social: Is isolation or distance from family an issue in their daily life?
- Health: Are your loved one’s vitals, symptoms or exercise tracking important?
- Daily living: What tasks cause the most friction for your loved one? Do they have issues with appointments, bills, transportation, or memory?
From there, you can match tech solutions to real needs. This ensures that every tool has a job to do, and your loved one won’t feel overwhelmed by too many devices or apps.
Make Connection Effortless: Video Calls and Messaging
Staying in touch can boost your loved one’s mood and reduce their loneliness. The best apps for seniors have large buttons, easy-to-read captions, and are easy to join (they don’t need codes or two-factor authentication). Here are some solutions for video calls and messaging.
- Simple tablets let seniors tap one icon to video chat.
- Smart displays (like Amazon’s Alexa) enable hands-free calls for your loved one.
- Subtitle and caption options and auto-answer for trusted contacts can also help make devices more user-friendly for seniors.
Strengthen Their Safety with Wearables and Fall Detection
Worried about your senior loved one’s safety and getting fall detection alerts? Here are some options to explore.
- Wearable devices like watches, pendants or clip-ons can track your loved one’s steps, heart rate, and location, and can also trigger help in an emergency.
- Look for fall detection devices that auto-alert staff or family if a fall is suspected.
- Choose comfortable, water-resistant designs so your loved one can wear the device consistently.
- Set up geofencing for wandering alerts when cognitive decline is a concern.
It’s smart to pair any of these wearables with a central app that care teams or families can access to see trends and respond quickly.
Medication Made Simple: Smart Reminders and Dispensers
As seniors age and experience cognitive decline, missed or doubled doses of medication are common. This can be detrimental and even dangerous, so explore the option of smart pillboxes and dispensers. These devices reduce errors by:
- Locking future doses and releasing the right meds at the right time
- Sending audible/visual reminders to your loved one
- Alerting caregivers via app notifications if a dose is missed
You can always start with app-based reminders on your loved one’s phone or tablet, then graduate to a dispenser if there’s still an issue.
Smart Home Technology for Seniors that Actually Helps
Whether your senior loved one is aging in place or living in assisted living, smart home technology for seniors can make day-to-day life easier. Here are some examples of this useful tech that you might want to consider:
- Smart lights with motion sensors can help prevent nighttime falls
- Smart thermostats with simple presets can keep your loved one comfortable
- Video doorbells ensure safer visitor management
- Smart plugs auto-shut off risky appliances to reduce the risk of fires
How to Pick the Best Apps for Seniors
When it comes to choosing apps for your senior loved ones, less is more. Curate 6 – 8 essential apps based on needs and wishes like:
- Communication: Video calling and private family photo sharing
- Health: Medication reminders and a symptom/vitals tracker
- Safety: A personal alert app tied to wearables or staff at the assisted living community
- Lifestyle: Brain games, music, and large-print news with simplified interfaces
- Organization: A calendar app with shared access for family and care teams
Once you’ve downloaded the apps, be sure to enable large text, high contrast, and voice control in accessibility settings so they’re easy for your loved one to use.
How to Train Seniors in New Technology
Age isn’t a factor when it comes to learning how to use new technology and apps – confidence is! Instill confidence in your loved one with these tips.
- Teach in 10-minute micro-sessions focused on one task (like how to answer a video call or how to deal with a medicine alert).
- Provide written step cards with big icons and plain language.
- Look for peer “tech buddies” (other assisted living residents who can coach your loved one)
- Schedule monthly refreshers to practice, update apps, and review safety features.
Privacy, Security and Scam-proofing Technology for Seniors
Seniors are increasingly susceptible to scams and security breaches, so how do you protect your loved one when they’re using technology? Here are some quick tips.
- Turn on automatic updates, use strong passcodes, and set up face or fingerprint scanning when it’s possible.
- Use a password manager that you or your loved one’s care team have access to.
- Enable fraud alerts from banks and carriers and teach your loved one to call before clicking.
- Create a whitelist of known contacts and a blocked callers list.
- Write out a one-page Scam Spotter cheat sheet. Advise your loved one to be wary of unknown prizes, urgent threats, requests for gift cards, and links from strangers.
How to Set up the Right Infrastructure for Senior Technology
Trying to use devices and apps can be frustrating and confusing for seniors if the right infrastructure isn’t in place. Be sure that your loved one has spare chargers, styluses, and hearing-aid-friendly headsets in their living space. You should also ensure that their apartment has strong Wi-Fi so they can access the internet when they need it.
How Innovation Senior Living Makes Tech Work
At Innovation Senior Living, we focus on practical senior living technology that supports the person, not the other way around. We help families choose wearables with fall detection, set up smart medication reminders, and curate the best apps for seniors to keep everyone connected. Our team provides ongoing training, scam-prevention education and Wi-Fi that works so residents can stay safe, social and independent. Want more information about our community and how we keep our residents connected? Contact us today or stop by for an in-person tour!
